Yin and Yang
by BlackCatRedCrow
Summary: When Kotaro, Jiro, and Mimiko, acidentaly run into Zelman in the ramen shop, Kotaro says he sees a strange girl outside. When she dissapears before anyone else see's, no one belives him. But after an attack from a thousand year old blood makes the girl cross paths with them, she tells them her and her twin needs their help. But why would two people stronger than anyone need help?
1. Chapter 1 Scarecrow

**Chapter 1**

Zelman yawned into his hand as he walked down the dark alley way, obviously, bored out of his mind. He looked up at the cloudless night sky, wondering if something interesting was ever going to happen in his eternal life again.

Kotaro ran in front of his brother and Mimiko, looking in all directions.

"Brother! I think we're lost!" He yelled back at the two. Jiro stopped and looked up at the street sign, then before Mimiko could ask, he sighed in defeat.

~Crap!~ He thought. ~Kotaro's right!~ Jiro looked down at Mimiko and shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention I guess…" Mimiko stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

"Nice job brother!" Kotaro griped. His stomach growled in annoyance. Mimiko stomped in front of them and led them down a narrow street. "Hey Mimi," Kotaro said after a minute. "can we get something to eat? I'm hungry."

"Zelman-Sama!" Kotaro hollered running into the ramen shop and stopping next to his red eyed friend. Zelman glanced down at him and smirked.

"Yo." Was all he said before noticing the other two entering the shop behind Kotaro. "Whatcha up to?" Kotaro grimaced.

"Brother got us lost, and my stomach drove them crazy." He confessed, sitting on the booth next to Zelman, who snickered at Jiro. Mimiko stopped when she saw the red head. Jiro ran up to them, but before he could say anything, Zelman spoke first.

"Lost, Silver Blade?" He laughed at his own words. Jiro glanced at Kotaro, who was watching them and slurping down any ramen in sight. Jiro sighed.

"We went down a road I didn't remember." He said honestly, making Zelman laugh again. Mimiko walked up next to Jiro.

"Hello, Zelman-"

"Sup, Compromiser?" He said waving her formalities off. Kotaro burped, causing all three of them to look at him. He blushed at the attention.

"Sorry." He said before returning to his already empty bowl. Zelman went back to talking to Jiro and Mimiko while Kotaro finally noticed his bowl was empty and ordered another.

Kotaro's Prov.

I sucked down another ramen bowl while listening to my brother talk to

Mr. Zelman. When I finished my sixth bowl, I glanced at the window and saw something weird. It looked like a girl. A girl about fourteen, I think. I couldn't see very well because it was dark outside, so the lights inside made the window foggy. The girl looked normal enough, except for the ears on her head. They were animal ears. She turned and looked at me, waved, then gestured for me to come over to her. Was she talking to me? When I didn't move she placed her hands on her hips, and her…**tail** swished in annoyance. I looked around, then pointed to myself, and she nodded twice.

"Kotaro?" Zelman said, breaking my line of thought. I quickly answered.

"Yeah?" He stayed quiet till I looked at him. "Yes?"

"What are you looking at?" He eyed me, which I never liked, cause for some reason, I always got hotter, like he was burning me.

"This girl with fox ears is standing outside. And she-" I pointed to the window, but she was gone, as if she was never there. "Ehh?" Zelman glanced at me, then stood, and started to leave.

"Hey Kotaro," He said before exiting. I looked at him hopefully. "Let me know if you see that fox girl again, K?" I smiled happily.

"You got it Mr. Zelman!" Jiro looked at the red eyed man skeptically.

"You honestly think he wasn't making that up?" He asked. Zelman shrugged.

"You never know what this worlds capable of possessing. And who knows, if that girl is real, it might be fun." He then chuckled about something, then took his leave.

I glanced at the window, wondering if I really did see that

Normal Prov.

Kotaro walked a little ahead of the other two behind him as he thought about the girl. Who was she? Was she real? If so, what did she want with him? Just then, Jiro grabbed Kotaro and pulled him away just as an axe half the size of him clashed into the exact spot he was standing.

"Wha-?" Kotaro breathed out before seeing the sight in front of him. First off, his brother was in front of him and Mimiko with his blade out and ready, and on the other side was a kid with raven hair, and icy-blue eyes. His age ranged from fourteen to fifteen, but no older. He wore a black t-shirt with a tan vest over it. He had cut up blue jeans and no shoes. Around his raven hair was a black and tan head band.

The boy smirked, and for some odd reason, it reminded Kotaro of Zelman. Which scared him a little. He looked at the trio for a moment, before holding his hand up, and the axe returned to his hand.

"Well, damn!" He said popping his neck. "You actually heard me coming, that's a first. I'm usually never heard, much less caught by young black bloods like you." The boy laughed at himself. Kotaro looked at him confused. Why'd this kid call his older brother young? Mimiko then took this moment of silence, to speak.

"Do you know who your calling young, kid?" She said, making the boy laugh hysterically.

"What? Your Serious?" He yelled in between breathes. Mimiko raised her eyebrow at him. "Of course I know him! He's the _legendary Silver Blade_!" He said in a mocking tone. "Please!" He yawned. "Come on, what do take me for?"

"A little brat that thinks he can take on an old blood like it was nothing." Jiro stated. The boy stared at him. And stared some more. Then, he looked down.

"Really?" He asked. "You have no idea who I am? Well, I guess that expected from how long I've been gone…so," He looked up with an evil grin plastered on his face. "I'll just have to show you who I am."

As soon as anyone could blink, he threw the axe at Jiro's feet. He jumped out of the way then shot his gaze back up at the boy, to see he was gone! Jiro looked around, then saw a shadow on the ground in front of him. When he looked up, He, Kotaro, and Mimiko were speechless. Covering the boys arms were raven feathers, and jet black wings were sticking out of his back.

"Hahaha! You all look so surprised." He laughed at them. Jiro shot up and slashed down on him. The boy stopped the blade with his hand, then looked into Jiro's eyes seriously. "You can't beat me." He spun around so fast Jiro didn't see him move, then brought a foot with bird talons down on his back. Jiro shot down, and was able to land on his feet. Before noticing the boy's feet had changed into a birds. Three fingers, like a Y, and long talons hung from the ends of each finger.

"What are you?" Mimiko yelled up at him. The boy looked at her for a moment.

"My name's Crow. I'm a thousand year old blood." This made Kotaro's eyes widen. Theirs an older vampire than Zelman?

"Your joking!" Mimiko hollered. Crow laughed again, then with axe in hand shot down towards Jiro, then he shot back up suddenly with a troubled expression.

"Damn…they're here…" He looked around for this other hidden threat when something shot at him. He flew out of the way, and crashed into something else. That something was a person. Crow crashed into the ground, and let out an aggravated yowl of pain and annoyance. The other person landed in front of the trio, and Kotaro gasped. It was the girl he had seen outside the ramen shop.

She had silver hair tied back into long pigtails. Her eyes were pitch black. Her blouse was black with silver lining, to match her skirt. On her head were a pair of silver fox ears and a fluffy silver tail was swaying behind her. Her feet were covered in silver fur and three large claws were on the end of each toe.

Crow flipped up on his feet.

"You!" He yelled pointing a broken finger at her. She cocked her head at him, then smiled warmly.

"Hi Crow! It's been a while! How ya doing?" She said moving away from the axe hurled at her.

"Shut up!" He yelled at the girl. Jiro was ready to jump in and help when she jumped in front of him.

"You stay out of this, k?" She smiled kindly at them. Crow threw the axe at her.

"Die you stupid-wha?" He didn't finish. She did a back flip, grabbing the axe in the process, then landed, and flipped the axe back at him, lodging it right into his left leg. Howling in pain, he vanished into the fog.

Kotaro shot up. "We won!" The girl turned to him and smiled happily slapping him a high five.

"Yeah. For now. Mr. Jiro, Ms. Mimiko, Kitty, we should probably go now before Scarecrow comes back." Kotaro's eyes widened. Did she just call him, Kitty?

"Scarecrow?" Mimiko asked. The silver haired girl flipped again for no reason.

"Yeah that guy you just met. His real names Scarecrow. He thinks it's too long, so he goes by Crow. I wonder what kind of parents he must've had to come up with that as a name…" She went silent. Jiro coughed, trying to get everyone's attention.

"Well, thank you…uhh…" The girl smiled for the hundredth time that night.

"Yang. My name is Yang Kunone." She chirped at them. Kotaro ran up and quickly shook her hand. She looked at them. "Well, I think we should go now." Jiro nodded.

"Yes. We should get home as soon as possible-" Yang jumped in front of them, blocking their way.

"Oh no! Not your home, bud!"

"Why?" Kotaro asked. Yang laughed.

"You are SO cute! The reason you can't go home is because that's going to be the first place they'll look for you."

"Who?" Mimiko asked, confused. Yang jumped in front of her.

"The Scarce Boys!" Yang laughed after she spoke. "They work for Crow."

Kotaro raised his hand. "So Where do we go, then?"

Yang pushed Jiro into Mimiko, who ran into Kotaro, who slipped down a hole that was behind. Yang laughed Hysterically.

"There!"


	2. Chapter 2 Yin and Yang

**Chapter 2**

Kotaro sat up from where he had fallen, and looked around him.

"Whoa!" He yelled to himself. He was in what looked like a campground. A bonfire pit sat in the middle of a large clearing, surrounded by logs that Kotaro guessed were used as seats. Behind the bonfire, were five houses. No not houses, cabins. Cabins on stilts is what they really were.

Kotaro stood, and shook his head. That's when he saw something gleam from the corner of his eyes. Kotaro ran over to the shimmer and found his brothers blade, at the foot of a huge oak tree. The tree must've been the size of a tall story building.

"Ugh…" Jiro walked up behind Kotaro with Mimiko behind him, coughing dust out of her mouth. "What the hell is the matter with that girl?" Mimiko shrugged, then winced at her action.

"I think my shoulder blade is cracked." She complained. Kotaro was still staring at the tree when he noticed a mark on it. Getting closer, he saw it was a carving of a heart with an H on the top left, an X in the center, and a K on the bottom right.

"H x K…?" Kotaro didn't get it. On the left of the carving was a silver knife that must have been used to make the carving, but with the wood growing over it, the knife looked as if it hasn't been used in decades. And the carving looked almost new.

"Jiro!" Someone yelled behind them. Jiro turned towards the sound and mentally swore. Rinsuke was running towards them with Cain and Sei not far behind. When they reached them, Kotaro had noticed their group's expansion, and quickly joined them in conversation.

"Well, weren't expecting you to be here." Cain muttered. Rinsuke clapped his hands together.

"Not that we aren't glad to see you Darling!" He chimed.

"Did you guys run into her to?" Kotaro asked. Cain nodded.

"Yes. That little black haired girl saved us from some strange vulture with a spiked tail, then when were leaving, she threw us threw a hole and we ended up here." He finished with a huff. Jiro nodded.

"Wait…black hair? We were saved by Yang. A girl with silver hair." Kotaro stated.

"Well then their must be two of them." Sei concluded. Jiro and Cain went white at the thought of two of those crazy children.

"Do you know where they are?" Cain shook his head. Rinsuke put his index finger to his chin.

"Umm…that black haired young girl said something about-"Rinsuke was cut short by a loud crashing noise.

"Don't make this harder than it already is you Kuloon freak!" The group ran over at the word _Kuloon_, to see Yafury wrestling with a silver haired girl.

"Yang!" Kotaro yelled at the girl. She looked up from the struggling venomous boy to the blonde.

"Kitty! Hi!" Yang punched Yafury's jaw, then picked him up and threw him across the clearing. She skipped over to him and ruffled his hair, with her tail swishing behind her. "How ya doing?"

"Better if I knew where we were…" He said honestly. The silver haired girl got a confused look on her face, then smiled again, her big black eyes sparkling like fire.

"Silly me! I'm sorry. Kitty, everyone," She looked back at Yafury who was clearly trying to keep his distance from Yang, "Yafury, welcome to my home Chitaqua." Kotaro stared at her.

"What's that mean?" Yang laughed.

"I don't know. I just heard the name from an episode of supernatural and thought it was funny so I talked Yin into letting me name our home after it." Rinsuke clapped his hands.

"Right now I remember!" Everyone turned towards him. "The other girl, Yin, said something about Zelman." Yang laughed hysterically. Suddenly a loud explosion went off from behind the oak tree.

"LET GO!" Kotaro gasped.

"That sounded like…Zelman." Suddenly, a small girl with jet black, shiny hair came into view, pulling a very angry crimson-eyed Zelman Clock with her. Zelman turned towards her with glowing eyes and shot a flare at her again, but she moved over so it would miss.

"Let Go!" He yelled again, struggling more. Yin pulled at him but Zelman was finally coming free. "Damn it!" Yin muttered. "Yang!" She hollered to her laughing twin. Yang jumped up and held up two thumbs.

"Your doing great." She chirped. Yin growled.

"Shut up and help me you overgrown son of a-"

"Okay, okay." Yang skipped over a jumped on Zelman's back, shoving his hat down over his eyes in the process.

"Hey!" He yelled at her. She laughed, and threw her legs down so he would trip. He hit the ground, and before Yang could move, Jiro put is blade to her neck.

"You might not want to do that." He said. Yang laughed. But it wasn't her childish laugh. This laugh was cold and threatening. She glanced at Jiro through the corner of her eye. Zelman started struggling under her, and she dug one of her clawed paws into his back, causing him to hiss, though it was from more aggravation than pain.

"No, my Silver Blade friend, it's _you _who shouldn't do that." She said nodding to his sword. Yin kicked her twin off the struggling red head, who, in return, grabbed Yang by the neck and smacked her into the ground. With his eyes glowing madly, he hissed at her.

"You-" Yang brought her knee up to the red eyed boy's little _friend_ harder than any human could, causing Zelman to double over. Yang laughed her normal childish laugh, and skipped over to Yin.

"Zelman-Sama, are you ok?" Kotaro asked, receiving a slight nod from him. Zelman stood, but didn't go near Yang.

"Okay, now with that out of the way, we-…Yang." Yin growled to the other twin, who was staring up at the clouds aimlessly. "Yang." She tried again. Yang started humming. Yin slammed her fist down on her kiddish sister.

"YANG!"

"What!" She yelled back holding her head where her sister had smacked it.

"Where's the other two?" Yang stared blankly for a minute before snapping a finger.

"Oh right! They're with Yo." Yafury snickered.

"Friend of yours?" He asked. Yang laughed and Yin smiled for the first time.

"Yes. You could say that." They said together. Cain shook his head.

"So, what are _we _doing here?" He used his arms to jester to everyone, including the kuloon boy that was keeping his distance from them.

"We need your help." Yin said. Yang got serious for a moment.

"Yeah. You know those things you saw earlier?" She asked.

"Yes?" Kotaro asked more than answered.

"Yes?" Sei copied.

"No." Zelman growled, still upset. Yin gave them all a sheepish look.

"Oh yeah that's right, you weren't bothered by Scarecrow and The Scarce." She sighed. Yang smiled evilly.

"Okay fine Zelman, I'll take you home." Yang said sadly opening a hole in the ground. "I'll take you back so you can go back to doing nothing and be bored and-"

"Nah, I'm good. Thiers's no reason for me to go and be bored when things could get interesting here." He said leaning against the huge oak. Yang laughed again.

"That's good 'cause I wasn't gonna let you leave anyway!" She sang. Zelman growled at her.

"Here's my question." Cain said butting into the pointless conversation. "But from what I've seen you two are pretty powerful yourselves. Why do you need us?"

"Yeah, I mean you pinned Zelman!" Kotaro exclaimed, earning a cold and deadly glare from the Crimson Eyed Butcher.

"Yes but obviously it's not enough to take Crow and his goony goons out." Yang confessed. "That axe throw, when I hit him, that was luck. He's not as old as he is for nothing." She glanced at their faced. They ranged from confused to surprised. Rinsuke looked worried and sympathy was clear on his face. Zelman wasn't really paying much attention, but did ask,

"How old is this _Scarecrow_?" Yin and Yang looked at one another.

"A thousand." Zelman shot his eyes open and stared at them.

"And The Scarce guys?" Sei asked.

"Not sure. But if one dies, Crow makes more. They're all different creatures. Like the one I fought was Kichigai. The vulture." Yin explained.

"Back to my question." Cain growled. The twins looked at him. "How are we supposed to help? We're obviously weaker than you." Zelman growled at him. "It's the hard truth Zelman, live with it." Yang turned towards her twin and shrugged. Yin shook her head _No_. Yang gave Yin a puppy face, Yin stared for a minute.

"Oh fine. But the humans are going to Yo." Yin stated, giving in, while Yang shot up and down rapidly.

"Yes!" Yang ran around doing flips. Yin walked over to Mimiko and Rinsuke, and shoved them down a hole.

"Tell Yo the Kunone twins sent you." She said before closing the hole.

"Mimi.!" Kotaro yelled.

"She's fine Kitty." Yang sang. Zelman snickered.

"Kitty?"

"Ok. To answer your question before you ask it, you all are gonna stay here, and we're going to teach you how to fight." Zelman laughed at that.

"Right." He said. Yang smiled.

"Let me rephrase that, we'll train you to fight our way and our way is hard. Okay?"

"What kind of training?" Sei asked.

"And what do you mean your way?" Cain questioned. Yin stepped up.

"The way we fight takes a lot of skill and is very hard to learn. But it's not known in your world so it might be even harder for you guys." She finished with a nod. Jiro cocked his head a little.

"What do mean _our world_?" Yin and Yang smiled. Kotaro was confused.

"Where are we?" He asked. Yang did a flip.

"This is Chitaqua in the glorious country Sensou, which is in it's _black stage_."

"What's black stage mean?" Zelman asked, curios.

"It means everyone is at war with one another trying to own the country." Yin explained, her silver eyes looking right into his deep red ones.

"Well, we were all at war for the ownership," Yang grumbled, tightening her pigtails, "Until Scarecrow showed up with his damn pets."

"What happened?" Yafury asked, standing next to Cain, but ready to bolt at any moment.

"He took over everything." Yin explained. "Our world, Kanshisha-"

"That means guardian!" Kotaro interrupted. Yin and Yang both nodded.

"That's right, Kitty." Kotaro was used to his new name and giggled a little.

"Our world is named Kanshisha, which means guardian in your worlds Japanese, if I'm correct." Yin said seriously. Yang, somehow, suddenly had a Japanese dictionary in her hands.

"Yep. Your right sister." She said throwing the book behind her. Zelman, out of curiosity, looked behind Yang, but the book was nowhere in sight.

"Our world consists of many creatures, but only two species. Besides you all, "Yin looked at Yang.

"If you were born in this world, you're either a Guardian, or an Abysl." Yang finished. Yafury looked at them.

"So what's that mean?" He asked. Yin looked up at the now black sky.

"So many questions." She muttered. "Why don't we sit around and I'll explain." Yang ran over to a log sitting left of the fire that was suddenly flaring out from the bonfire pit. Everyone turned towards Zelman.

"What?" He spat. "Just because its fire doesn't mean I did it. Sheesh!" He walked over and sat on the log next to Yang. Cain sat next to Sei, Jiro was with Kotaro, and Yin sat with her sister.

"Each person in your world has at least one Guardian in this world. You are known to them as their Kokoro." Yin said, staring blankly into the fire.

"Kokoro…that means heart." Kotaro said.

"What? So that means-"

"You are the heart of your guardian." Yin stated, cutting Zelman off.

"An Abysl is any creature in this world that works for Scarecrow." Yang said, the fire a perfect reflection in her pitch black eyes. "They move around your world a lot. They are assassins of Kokoro." She sighed. "They're real pains in the ass." Yang suddenly laughed once. "They're amazing at killing, but suck at dying." She popped her neck, glancing at them, and kicked a rock on the pit wall. Suddenly, the fire blazed purple. Yang shot up from her seat, right as the fire struck out at her.

"Sorry!" She yelped. Yin growled.

"Kaji!" Yin griped, talking to the fire. "Knock it off. Yang didn't mean to kick your rock, so pipe down." Yin glared into the purple, angry flames, and the fire quickly returned to normal.

"Sorry." Yin said to the staring black bloods, minus one red head. "Kaji can be temperamental sometimes." She said.

"Uh-huh." Yafury said.

"Well it looks like nighttime is lasting longer than we thought. Your training starts tomorrow. So get some sleep." Yin said standing up and walking towards the oak. Yang stood.

"The Abysl's are working for Scarecrow because they're on the side that they think is going to win. They're nothing but murderous bastards." Yang's ears pulled back in anger, but went back up when she smiled.

"So we're gonna prove these guys wrong and pummel the crap out of these guys and they're crappy leader!" Yang flipped once. "Zelman and Kotaro get the cabin on the far left because it has a couch and a bed." Zelman perked up a little when he found out he didn't have to sleep in a bed.

"Jiro and Cain in the middle one, and Sei and Yafury on the far right." She concluded. "Oh and Yafury, no biting." And with that Yang ran to her sister and they stopped at the mark on the tree, touched it, then ran up the oak so fast no one saw them move, just vanish.

"Tomorrow is going to be a long day." Cain muttered.


	3. Chapter 3 No sleep and Training

**Chapter 3**

Jiro rolled over in his large but somewhat uncomfortable bed, unable to sleep.

"Jiro, if you don't stop rolling around, I'm going to freaking kill you." Cain growled from the other side of the bed. Jiro glared.

"Kind of hard when your huge form is not only taking the whole blanket, your also making the bed tilt." He griped at the large Blue Wolf. Cain rolled over and ignored him. Jiro sat up for a moment, then grabbed the blanket from Cain. Cain shot up and grabbed at it.

"Get your own blanket, Jiro!" He yelled yanking it.

"No way! You've had it all night!" Jiro hollered back. They were tugging and yelling when Cain's hand slipped and he accidentally punched Jiro.

"That, was a very big mistake!" Jiro glared at him and tackled him.

Meanwhile…

"Oh my god they just won't shut up." Kotaro grumbled, throwing a pillow over his head.

"GET OFF!" The cabin filled with their argument, causing Zelman to grow more and more annoyed.

Back to Jiro and Cain…

Jiro rolled off the bed and kicked at Cain who punched out at Jiro causing a slight BOOM to echo throughout the camp. Suddenly, the door burst down and a fire ball shot at both of them. They dodged, only to get kicked in the gut, and thrown into the wall.

"You're extremely loud gay love affair is getting highly on my nerves, SHUT UP!" Zelman yelled at them. Jiro and Cain stared at him, then realizing what they've been yelling; someone could've thought-ICK!

"Nice Zelman-Sama." Kotaro cheered. "Now maybe we can get some actual sleep."

"Oh theirs no need for that you loud mouth morons." A little silver haired girl trudged behind her glaring demon-looking sister.

"Yeah." Yang yawned from lack of sleep. "Thanks to your yelling, I couldn't sleep well and Yin made me get up really early." Yang rubbed one eye and everyone at that moment could have sworn she was the most adorable, precious, little girl in any world.

"By the way," Yin said, "keep your love affairs silent from now on please." Yin griped, obviously tired. Zelman snickered, as Yang walked over to him.

"You heard Zelman talking to them?" Kotaro asked. Yin shook her head.

"No but we did see a very bright fire ball that just happened to wake up little Yang." Yang glared at the red head, then turned away for a moment, before spinning around and slamming her foot into his crotch again, this time harder than the last. He hit the ground faster that a bullet, and while he was catching his breath, Yang bent down, making him look her in the eye.

"Never, wake me up, again." She threatened. Yin snapped her fingers and the bonfire, Kaji, burst to life, but it kept growing, then shot into the black sky. The sky gradually filled with color, and it became day.

"What the hell?" Cain muttered to himself.

"Man, morning already?" Yafury growled, walking up to the group, stopping at the doubled over Crimson Eyed. "Should I ask?"

"You ask, you DIE." Zelman warned, standing slowly. With a huff, he shoved his hands in his pocket.

"So anyone want to explain why you cut off your explanation last night?" Sei asked, walking past the now quiet bonfire.

"Oh yeah, that was because Scarecrow comes out at night." Yang chirped now her now happy, dippy self. "And he sometimes comes around here so we take precautions so you don't get killed before your training." She jumped over to Yafury and gave him a nuggie. "Where would be the fun in that?"

"So Yin," Sei started, "what _training_ were you both talking about?" Yin pulled Yang away from Yafury and threw her twin up in the air. Yang flipped in the air and vanished.

"Allow us to demonstrate some of what we'll be teaching you." Yin complied. Everyone (except Zelman) looked closely. "Do you see Yang?" No one spoke. Then, out of no where, a scythe slammed into the ground in front of Yin, missing her by and inch.

"Boo!" Yang yelled, jumping from her perch on the roof of Cain and Jiro's cabin and landing on the up end of the scythe, perching their instead. Yin then swiped the scythe with her foot, then flipping up with it in her hands, held up to her twin's throat.

"You were showing off Yang." She said. Yang dodged the scythe and tripped Yin, snapping her ankle. Yin turned, and quicker than blinking, grabbed Yang's wrist, and slammed her into the ground.

Zelman, watching, got bored, (Unlike the others, who were all paying close attention to the twins fight), and shot a small sun at them.

"Nice try." They said together before disappearing into the flame. When the smoke cleared, Zelman's red eyes widened when he saw a large boulder was where the twins once were.

"Oi, that was closer than I thought." Yang said skipping out from behind the rock, followed by her sister. Yin slammed her foot down on the ground, and the boulder shattered into dust. Yang ran over to Zelman (who was carefully guarding his _friend_), and gave him a hug, then ripped off his hat and gave him a nuggie.

"Hey!" He yelled pulling away. Yang giggled.

"You look better without your hat." She chirped. He snatched his hat back and shoved it on his head. Then, without warning, she slammed him in the crotch. Kotaro, Cain, and Yafury winced, feeling his pain. Sei muttered, "Ouch." once or twice.

"Would you stop doing that?" Zelman coughed out, a little more high pitched than usual. Yang laughed.

"That was for interrupting and not paying attention." She smiled her cheery smile.

"Okay. Now that Yang has the kicking out of her system, we'll begin." Yin said before Zelman would say something that would be the end of him. "Since this was Yang's idea, she get's to have Kotaro and Zelman. The four of you will come with me." Zelman glanced at Yang, who was smiling evilly down at him.

"Hey! Why are we splitting up?" Jiro asked.

"Cause I can't watch all of you by myself. And Yang talked me into it." Kotaro and Zelman, you two head down there, you'll come to an outside arena. Wait their for Yang." Yin finished quickly. Kotaro looked over at Yang, but she was gone! "The rest of you, with me."

10 Minutes LTR…

"Zelman-Sama, are we there yet?" Kotaro said for the hundredth time today. Zelman looked up and thanked God for the sight in front of him.

"Yeah." He muttered. Kotaro whooped, and ran to the open arena. Zelman gave it a quick once over. It was sitting on the edge of a sheer cliff. It was old, that much was plain. It was a circle, and made of concrete. It wasn't very big. Maybe thirty feet in diameter. And apparently hadn't been used in a while. Weeds were growing out of cracks and small holes. But the only thing that confused Zelman was the red streak marks. He kneeled down by a streak and drug a finger across it. Blood. That's strange. He thought. If it hasn't been used in a long time, then why are their fresh blood stains here?

As Zelman was in deep thought, someone came up behind him, grabbed his shoulder, and attempted to throw him, but he wasn't falling for it. He grabbed Yang by the neck and threw her around him and across the arena. She flipped and landed on her feet, and ran towards him. He smiled, and shot a stream of fire at her, she jumped, letting it miss, and landed on him.

"Man, you suck at this." She complained. Yang stood, and offered her hand. He took it, and she hurled him across the arena. She laughed at Kotaro's surprised face. "Hey Kitty." She sang. Zelman stood up and Yang offered her hand again, he took it and she flipped him again, but this time it was her turn. He held onto her hand, landed on his feet, then brought his elbow into her sternum, making her double over.

"Done?" He questioned. She nodded. He held out his hand, and she took it. Yang was catching her breath when Kotaro ran to them.

"You guys ok?" He asked. Zelman nodded, and Yang coughed. She stared at Zelman for a moment, then brought her foot up to his crotch; fortunately that's what he's been expecting since the beginning of the fight. He shot his hand up, and blocked it. Yang smiled, then shot her clawed foot up and slammed it up into his chin, knocking him over. Then she twirled once and brought his little friend some intense pain.

Yang then grabbed Zelman by his shirt, and hurled him over the edge of the cliff.

"Zelman!" Kotaro screamed. Yang laughed hard watching him fall.

At the Bottom of the Cliff…

Cain pulled himself out of the cliff wall and grumbled something about abuse. Yin stood their, where she had been the whole time. The training was simple. Move Yin from her position. So far no one has prevailed. Jiro had dropped his blade and had been using his fists, Yafury was jumping around trying to hit her, and Cain even tried ramming her. Sei used his light barriers, but Yin had been bouncing them back at them.

"You lack strategy." Yin said calmly, smacking Yafury away. She looked at Cain. "And you need to be careful, because if you aren't careful and vigilant, something could fall on you at any moment." Cain scoffed.

"Oh really? Like what?" Just as he finished his question, a red eyed black blood crash landed on top of him. Yin looked up.

"Like that." She said smiling. Yang's hysteric laughter filled the chasm. Yafury couldn't help it, he broke out into laughter. Sei giggled, and Jiro smirked.

Later…

"Ouch!" Zelman complained as Yang stuck another acupuncture needle in his back. Yin had already given Cain pain pills for his head. (That's where Zelman landed). Unfortunately, Zelman got the worse end of the fall. "Yang do you know what your doing?" Yang poked him again.

"I think so. I saw the praying mantis do this in that kung fu movie in your world. So I mean, how hard could it be?" Yin giggled.

"Hey Cain next time move." Zelman growled.

"Maybe next time, you won't fall off a cliff you idiot." He spat back. Zelman moved to hit the wolf, but quickly stopped when it brought him pain he didn't need.

"That wasn't my fault, Yang threw me!" He yelled back. Yin clapped her hands so everyone would listen.

"Everyone, I have news, first off, stay seated on your log." Yin sat on her spot circling the bonfire, then snapped her fingers, and the sky started swirling like it was sucked into a giant tornado, then it began to shoot into the bonfire pit. By the end, the pitch dark sky was back and the bonfire was blazing.

"Now, what's the news?" Yang said pulling needles out of the cringing red head.

"Good news and Bad news." She replied. "Good news is, we're going to see Yo for your training tomorrow." She took a breath. "And the bad news is, we have a visitor." She said glancing away from the fire a little. The group's eyes followed hers to see a bird. No, a Gryphon. With blood red eyes. Yin shifted away from it as it walked up. It was easily twice the size of Cain, and its feathers were blacker than night, its beak gold as the sun. Its eyes deep and bright. And talons as long as a man's size twelve shoe. The Gryphon looked down on the black bloods for a moment before staring at Zelman.

"What is he doing here?" It growled, flicking its long tail towards Zelman. Yin refused to give the giant creature an answer, unlike Yang who was somehow on the creatures head.

"He's here to help us fight Scarecrow." She said. "Just like the others." The Gryphon sighed, and sat down.

"Pardon my intrusion but I have something that must be discussed to all of you." The Gryphon looked at Zelman. "We have been at war with Scarecrow now for almost a hundred years. The guardians put their lives at risk every day for our Kokoro." He never looked away from Zelman as he spoke. "I am no exception." Yang hopped off the Gryphon, and sat next to Zelman, who was waiting for the kick, but surprisingly, it didn't come. "I will protect mine with my life."

"This is Crimson." Yin said loud enough for everyone to hear. "He is Zelman Clocks Gaurdian."


	4. Chapter 4 Sasori Desert

**Chapter 4**

Everyone (even Zelman) stared wide eyed at the Gryphon, Crimson. He cocked his head, staring strait back.

"Okay, guys calm down." He said, growing annoyed by their stares. "I'm nothing special." Sitting back, he chuckled. "Okay, I'm not _that_ special to _this_ world…but really could ya stop staring?" He was glaring at the attention. Sei quickly looked anywhere but Crimson, and the others quickly followed his action. Everyone but Zelman.

"My Guardian, is a-"

"If you even think about calling me a pigeon, I'll scorch you." Crimson warned. Zelman laughed. Cain grimaced.

"Now we have two red eyed idiots." He muttered. Suddenly the bonfire shot into the air, filling the black sky with color. Yafury jumped.

"I am never going to get used to that." He griped.

"This world's time is very…abstract." Sei said calmly. Yang giggled.

"Yeah, this world is pretty messed up when it comes to time, actually without Kaji here it would be dark 24/7." Crimson huffed at her. Yang shot up and perched on the giant Guardian's head. "Yes, you help to." Yin smiled, but kept her distance from him. Out of nowhere, a ringing echo was going off in the circle. No one moved from there spot, just turned their heads towards each other when Zelman laughed.

"It's me." He said pulling out his cell. "Holy crap!" He exclaimed. "Reception out here is incredible!" Shaking his head, he answered it. His face went from smug to confused in a second. He listened a little more before finally speaking. "Who the hell is this?" He asked. He listened before going wide eyed for a moment. "How the _hell_ did you get my number?!" Yin and Yang snickered to each other, giving him the answer to his question. Zelman threw his phone at Yang, who caught it with two fingers.

"Yellow?" She said. There was a bunch of yelling the group could hear through the phone. "Uh-huh. Ok! Relax, we're headed out now. Sheesh." Some more yelling began before Yang slammed the phone shut. Yang turned to her sister. "And you wonder why I can't hear out of my left ear well."

"So what's going on?" Kotaro asked. Yin smiled at him.

"We're going to see Yo. Right now, apparently." She said eyeing her twin, who was hitting her furry ear. Crimson grabbed her ears, and pulled them back.

"Chinese foxy, Regular foxy." He said letting them go, and receiving giggles throughout the group. Then he grabbed her left ear and puffed warm air into it.

"Ahh! That tickles!" She hit his broad front arm over and over while she scratched her ear. "You jerk!" Crimson laughed. Yin rolled her eyes at them. Zelman eyed his large Guardian.

On the way to Yo…

"Why a dessert?" Jiro complained as they walked through a scorching hot, sandy, sunny dessert. "I'm going to melt." Yang laughed.

"That's ok I brought a bucket." She giggled pulling out a tin pail. Jiro's jaw dropped while everyone else laughed. Sei glanced at the sky and noticed there was no sun.

"Yin, Yang, there's no sun." He said plainly. Yang perched herself on Crimsons back.

"Yeah? What about it?" She asked, pulling a hat out of her pocket and placing it on her head, covering her ears. "Damn sand." She growled. Crimson glared into the space in front of him, and clamped his ears to the side of his head. Yafury looked up.

"Hey anyone notice how were not burned?"

"How do guys have light?" Sei asked, surprised they didn't question why their world was lit, yet their was nothing to light it. Yafury huffed, feeling ignored. Yin smirked.

"We have light because your world-" Crimson suddenly let out a loud scrawl. It sounded like an eagle was shot out of the air. He reared up on his hind legs and his giant wings shot open.

"Crimson, what's up!?" Yang yelled, holding onto his back. Zelman stared at his Guardian in shock. What was going on? Jiro drew his blade and stepped in front of Kotaro in defense, and Yafury stood ready. Sei was confused and worried for the Gryphon. Cain was standing somewhat in front of Sei, protecting him. Yin, realizing his action, jumped in front of the black bloods, black fox ears replacing her normal one's, and a tail swished angrily behind her. Her hands had become paws with huge claws.

"Stay back!" She yelled just as Crimson's front paws engulfed in flames, and he thrusted down into the sand. At first, nothing happened. Then, there was an ear piercing screech from under the sand. A giant tail the size of the gryphon shot out and struck at him. Crimson jumped in the air and hovered with his wings out. It shot up, and quickly recoiled itself when all it hit were hot flames. Crimson's eyes glowed as he stared at the sand, engulfing the entire area in front of the black bloods in an inferno. When it died down, he landed in front of them, and looked at Yang, who was clinging onto his back feathers for dear life. He chuckled, and poked her with a clawed finger.

"Don't ever go up in the air while I'm on your back again! You hear me you jerk?!" She yelled, obviously, not liking heights.

"You're afraid of heights?" Cain asked. Yang didn't say anything, just nodded. Crimson laughed again. Zelman noticed how Yang held onto his Guardian for protection. And Crimson was happily protecting her. Why? Yang did anything she could to get under his skin, but looked as if she really respected him.

"Zelman? Kanshisha to Zelman?!" Yang called out, jumping off Crimson and ran over to him. Then, of course, being Yang, she couldn't just poke him, slap him, or punch him. Nope. Being Yang meant putting Zelman in _dire_ pain. She took her foot, and slammed it right into his crotch. Zelman hit the ground, and Crimson flinched, _and_ covered his eyes with his wing.

"_What the hell is wrong with you_?!" Zelman yelled at the tone given. Yang pouted.

"You didn't answer me, so I was getting your attention." Zelman got ready to yell at her again when the ground began to shake. Sand in front of them began to clump together, and the form of a giant creature came into view.

"Salen." Yin said glaring at the monster. It was a scorpion. A really large scorpion. Just the tip of its tail was the size of Crimson. It screeched at them. Crimson took that as his queue to go. He flicked his tail and it quickly lit itself on fire.

"Bring it." He growled. The scorpion lashed out at him, but missed Crimson, who jumped up and struck his tail out like a whip, hitting it in the face. It screeched, and dug into the ground. Crimson looked around, but didn't see any movement.

"No one move." Yin warned. Yang was in a pouncing stance.

"Yang! Stay out of this!" Crimson warned her in a grave tone. Yang shook her head and growled, animal like. Just then, it shot up, right in front of Zelman, who didn't waste any time to torch it. It screeched, and Yang pounced.

"Salen!" She yelled. She flipped away from its sharp tail tip, and kicked a clawed foot into it's eye. Salen squealed in pain. But the pain quickly turned to boiling hatred. It grabbed at her, but Yin had jumped in and struck its other eyes. It raged on, and slammed its tail into an unsuspecting black Gryphon. He slammed into the ground, and coughed up some sand.

"Ow…" He muttered. Zelman ran over as he was standing. "That hurt…didn't see that coming."

"You okay?" The Gryphon's Kokoro asked. He nodded in reply, and shook his body, getting pounds of sand off his shining feathers.

"That's enough!" Sei yelled. A huge aura of energy slammed into the nescience, knocking it over. Yin gasped. Crimson shot his head up to the fight.

"Yang, move!" She screamed out just as Salen fell backwards on Yang. Sei immediately stopped his attack.

"Oh my god!" He said. Salen was still, but their was no sign of Yang. Kotaro glanced around.

"Hey, where's Crimson?" He questioned. Suddenly, Salen moved. Everyone shot there heads towards the giant, when it was shoved to the side to reveal a Gryphon on top of a shivering silver haired girl.

"Yang!" The group yelled just as Salen rolled over and screeched at them, before diving into the sand, and disappeared. They ran to the bird and the girl just as she climbed on his back.

"You okay?" Kotaro asked.

"Of course I am!" Crimson said. "I'm the guardian of a Crimson eyed." Yang giggled. Zelman watched them. His Guardian put his life on the line for this annoying brat.

"Zelman?" Yang's voice cut through his thoughts again, but this time she just poked him. He snapped his head towards her. "We're leaving hot head." She said, but oddly, it was kinder than her usual _childish_ tone. It made her seem less…psychotic. "You coming?"

"Yeah…" He said, still lost in thought. Yang giggled, and began walking with him towards the group. Crimson, who was in the back of the group, stopped for a moment, and turned halfway towards the two walking towards the group, talking to one another without any arguments or kicking. He watched for a few more moments before chuckling to himself, shaking his head, then turned away, and began to follow the group.

Later…

"Is that it?" Yafury asked, pointing to a small campsite. Yin and Yang looked down the dune.

"Yep." Yang giggled. She darted towards the campground, and was quickly followed by Crimson.

"Yang, wait up!" They heard him yell. Jiro looked down the dune to the small campground. There were small tents placed in all directions for at least an acre. In the center of the small tents, was one big tent.

"That should be where Yo is." Yin muttered, pointing to the large tent.

Yang ran around tents, with a black Gryphon trotting slightly behind her.

"Yo!" Yang called out. She turned a corner and slammed right into someone. Crimson dove and caught her before she could hit her head. They looked up too see a little boy with white hair and fox ears up and a white tail swishing behind him. His eyes a shimmering gold, and his arms were covered in white fur. His feet and hands were normal enough.

"Yo!" Yin yelled, coming up behind the two on the ground. Yang shot up, followed by Crimson. The others stopped behind the black fox girl. The white haired boy smirked.

"What up sibs?" He said. Yang threw her arms around him. He smiled, then slammed a fist down on her head. "Moron! You're all late!" He started chewing them out when someone familiar came up behind him.

"Come on Yo, go easy on them." Mimiko said. Kotaro squealed in delight and ran over to the red blood.

"Mimi! This is where you've been?" He asked. She nodded. Yo turned to her.

"Hey Mimiko, could you go help Rinsuke? I don't think he's having any luck with the tent thing."

"Sure thing. See you guys later." She smiled, and took her leave. Yo turned towards the large tent.

"Helpful human…" He muttered as he walked off. The others quietly followed him inside. The large tent wasn't cramped, but it wasn't comfortable either, it was somewhere in the middle. There was a desk in the corner with a huge map on top of it with holes and tears. And in the middle of the room was a hole.

"What's with the hole?" Yang asked poking her head in it. "Ekk!" She threw herself up and jumped into the nearest persons arms. Unfortunately, it was a red eyed teenager. She turned her head towards him and looked into his eyes. "You have real pretty eyes." He glared at her, then dropped her. But as luck for Yang goes, she wasn't dropped on the floor. Nope. She feel through the hole. "Ow!" She yelled out as she hit the rocky floor.

"Opps…" Zelman said, not meaning to do that. Yo walked to the hole.

"What's down there?" He asked. Yin turned to her brother.

"You mean you don't know?" She asked in disbelief. Yo shook his head.

"There wasn't anything in there every time we went inside."

"Hey guys! A little help please!?" Yang screamed from the hole. Crimson rolled his eyes and hopped in the hole. There was a large THUD, then a "Get off me you moron!", then an "Opps", right before a "Holy Crap!"

"What?" Yo yelled in irritation.

"No! Don't pull my feathers you bastard!" They heard Crimson holler. Zelman sighed.

"Screw it." He growled before jumping down the hole. Their was a slight pause before the red head yelled out, "What the f-" Then his words cut off with a loud smack, and an "Ow!" followed quickly after that. Zelman quickly hopped out of the hole, holding Yang by the shirt. Crimson was climbing out right after his Kokoro as Kotaro noticed a couple feathers missing from his left wing.

"What happened?" He asked. Crimson panted. Yang just noticed she was clamping her fingers around Zelman's arm. She quickly let go. Suddenly, a huge paw slammed into Yang, knocking her over into hole, and out of sight.

"YANG!" They all screamed. There was no answer.


	5. Chapter 5 Itami

**Chapter 5**

The group stared into the black hole in the floor, hoping to see Yang pop back out, or scream, anything would've been nice. But the air was silent. Yin glared at Zelman.

"Why didn't you hold onto her?!" She yelled. "Even if you weren't holding her, you could've grabbed her! She was standing right there!" Zelman stood there, not quite sure what to say to that? Crimson decided to intervene.

"Come on Yin, It's not like she's dead or anything. We just need to go down there and get her." Before Yin could say anything, Crimson jumped down the hole, followed by Sei, then Cain, Jiro, Yafury, and Kotaro. Yin's face softened a little.

"Zelman, I'm not saying sorry or anything, but I really didn't mean to scream at you. K?" She said. "It's just; I go crazy when she get's herself into trouble." Yin then jumped down the hole after Yo, leaving Zelman, alone. He thought of something right then, cringed, then hopped down as well.

THUD!

"Dammit Zelman!" Cain yelled under Zelman. Zelman looked down from where he was standing and saw Cain doing a face plant in the sand.

"Opps." He said before jumping off. It was dark, except for Crimson's flaming tail.

"Down there." Sei said pointing at another hole in the floor. Kotaro walked over to it, but tripped on the way and fell down the black hole.

"Of course." Yo muttered.

"Whoa! You guys need to see this!" They heard Kotaro yell. One by one, each person jumped. Cain moved from his spot, and was crushed by Zelman once again.

"Hey idiot, next time don't move." Zelman said, hopping off him. "I jumped away from where you were standing for a reason.

"Why you-" Cain started but Yin cut him off with a "shh". The room looked like some ancient temple; there were carvings all over the walls in some unknown language, and the floor was cut into six pieces. The ceiling was arched, and light was coming out of six holes in the roof.

"Ok, this," Yafury said out loud, "is cool."

"That's not all guys, look over there!" He said pointing to a wall. There was a little silver haired girl chained up to the wall, awake, and smiling at them.

"Hey guys, what took you thirty minuets to get down here?" She asked giggling. Crimson sighed.

"Yep. Yang, is still Yang." He was muttering something else incoherent as he hopped over to her and pulled at the chains, which popped off the wall with ease. Confused Cain walked up to the little girl.

"Could you have broken out of those?" He asked. Yang smiled.

"Yep. I just didn't want to get eaten, so I didn't try to escape while that thing was here, but before I could get free myself, you all showed up to save me." She smile childishly, and ran over to Zelman, patted his head, then kicked him in the crotch. "That, was for not grabbing me when necessary." She said in a kind tone, but anyone could see the threat behind it.

"Wait, Yang," Yafury started.

"Sup?" She asked as Zelman slowly stood.

"Is that, what wanted to eat you?" He asked, pointing behind the group. They all snapped they're heads around to see Salen glaring at them. Yang smiled.

"Uh-huh. Salen here like's eating anything he won't have to chew." She said giggling. Jiro drew his blade, Zelman's eyes began to glow, Sei opened his eyes, Cain growled, and Yafury was in a fighting position. Yin, Yang, and Yo stood together, and Crimson hovered in the air.

Salen stomped the ground and screeched. After a few seconds little black objects were filling the room.

"Oh great, little scorpions." Jiro grumbled. Each one was about two feet tall, and a foot wide. Salen then slashed out at Jiro, but a fireball blocked his way. So Salen went after Zelman with his pincher, causing the red head to lose focus, and jump away. Jiro took that chance to jump onto his back, and stab his blade in as far as it would go. Salen squealed, and rolled over on its back. Luckily, Crimson saw that coming, and grabbed Jiro before any damage was dealt.

"What the heck is this guy's problem?" Yafury yelled, slashing a layer of its huge tail. Yang kicked its underbelly as it rolled back over, followed by Yin, who swiped at his jaw line, and Yo, who jumped off Yin's back and dug his fangs into the scorpion's arm.

"He's one of Scarecrow's pets." Yin answered, jumping away from a little scorpion. Zelman scorched most of the little ones already, but the biggest target he had was the hardest one to hit. Before he could have a chance to burn it, it would swipe at him and make him lose his focus. Crimson was dive bombing him while engulfed in flames. That's when Salen had enough of this pain. He slammed his body to the wall, catching Jiro, Cain, and Sei in the process, slammed his right pincher down on Zelman, and used his tail to ground Crimson and snare Yafury. Then turned his head towards the triplets guarding Kotaro.

"That's enough, Salen." A very familiar yet strange voice said not to far off. The owner of the voice jumped from the arch he was perched on and landed next to Salen, who had freed the black bloods and the Guardian now standing together with Yin, Yang, and Yo.

"Scarecrow." Yin growled. It was him. The threat to the entire two worlds. The reason they had to bring several Kokoro into this world to fight with them. The thousand year old blood, Scarecrow. Zelman glanced at Yang. She wasn't smiling. To him, she actually looked, scared of the kid in front of them.

"Ah, so it was you three who brought Kokoro here. I thought so. It isn't every day I see you two in there world, much less interfere with my games." He said, glaring slightly at Yang, who tried to look unfazed. Scarecrow was looking them over quietly, before he saw a black beast. "Crimson!" He exclaimed in a creepy, happy tone that made the triplets shudder. "I'm actually surprised to see you here. Tell me, why are you here with the Kunone family?" Crimson remained quiet for a moment, before answering.

"What I do and why are none of your business, Scarecrow." He said calmly. Scarecrow's face went hard. His icy blue eyes glared into deep, blood red ones.

"It is not Scarecrow, you idiotic pigeon!" He roared. His eyes flashed ice, and Crimson suddenly let out a high pitched howl in dire pain before slamming into the hard floor, screeching and writhing. Yang sprinted to him, passing the Kokoro that had no idea what was going on.

"Crow, stop please!" Yang begged as her friend screeched, and began rolling back and forth, trying to get the pain to stop. Zelman couldn't stand anymore, he didn't know why, but he couldn't. A small sun shot strait at Scarecrow, causing him to look away from the screeching Gryphon, and jump away.

As soon as he looked away, Crimson went silent. The only thing showing he was alive was his heavy breathing and shaking. When everything died down, Scarecrow, and Salen were gone. Yang was dragging her nails through Crimson's large, black feathers as Yin checked his pulse.

"He's ok." She confirmed to everyone. Crimson didn't sit up, but he did speak.

"Hey hot head." He said to Zelman, who had been staring at him the whole time. "Don't think I'm weak or anything, k? You can't beat him either, so take it out of your mind." Zelman chuckled.

"What was that?" Sei asked. Yang looked up at him with a very serious expression clear on her face.

"That, was Itami." She explained. "Scarecrow's strongest attack. But fortunately, he went easy on Crimson."

"What does it do?" Yafury asked, standing over Crimson's head.

"Shows the monster he really is." Yo growled. Yin nodded.

"That too. But what it really does is inflict pain mentally." She said.

"You think you're getting burned but your not." Yang muttered. "You think you're getting dismembered alive but your not. You think-"

"Stop it Yang!" Yafury yelled, creeped out. Crimson finally sat up, and everyone gasped to see the side of his face he had been laying on, had a three claw slash scar right down his face. And no one had physically touched him!


	6. Chapter 6 Evergreen Otogi

**Chapter 6**

"How the hell-"

"How the hell did that happen?!" Kotaro yelled, interrupting the Kowloon. Crimson stood slowly.

"Damn that hurt." He said, trying to walk around and clear his head. Yang didn't leave his side as he did.

"Scarecrow's ability can cause you so much mental pain, it can turn into physical pain." Yin answered them. Crimson snickered, then winced.

"Come on guys, I'm not dying or anything. But, could we get out of here?" He asked walking towards the exit. (AKA-The hole in the roof) "At this rate my feathers are gonna dye brown; they've been in the sand so long." The team began to follow, but Sei became curious about something. What would happen to Zelman, if Crimson were to die?

Outside…

"Wow…where's the campsite?" Yafury asked. Yo groaned.

"They left without me!" Snarling something else incoherent, he darted off, leaving the group behind. Yang came up laughing hysterically with Yin at her side giggling along.

"The campsite has to move it's position everyday." Yang spat out in between laughs. Crimson came up laughing as hard as Yang.

"So they either forgot him, or they just decided to leave him, _again_!" He cackled.

"Let's. Go. Home. Please." Kotaro panted, making Yang giggle some more. Zelman rolled his eyes. She was so by-polar.

Back at Chitaqua…

Kaji had shot back into a bonfire by the time they got back, so it was about as dark as Crimson's now clean shiny black feathers. Kaji gave them a "hello" by flashing an emerald green, then returned to its original blazing reddish orange.

"Thanks Kaji." Yin said to the flaming bonfire. It blazed brighter at her voice. They were all sitting around Kaji, but for some reason, the air seemed much, darker. Like no one was willing to say anything in ear that something terrible would happen.

"Come on guys," Yang finally chirped, making multiple Kokoro jump in surprise, "eat up." She hurled something small at each of them. It was a package of hotdogs. Yin smiled, and threw them some sticks. Yang started snickering at something, and not one person there could grasp at what it was. Crimson finally caught on, and started laughing as well. Confused, the others continued with there hotdog roasting. When Kotaro brought his up to check it, it was gone!

"Hey, mine's gone!" He complained. The others checked theirs, and the same thing had happened to theirs. Yang began laughing so hard, she fell off her log, and Crimson had to lie down so he wouldn't collapse. Zelman had gotten plainly annoyed.

"What the heck did you two do?" He asked in a rude tone that made them laugh harder.

"Nothing! Nothing!" She tried saying. Then, out of the blue, Kaji, the fire, burped, and a puff of smoke flew up into the air, making Crimson and Yang double over in laughter, and realization to swarm over the Kokoro. Zelman stood, threw the stick behind him, and walked off towards his cabin. Yin was shaking her head at her hysteric sister, while Kotaro pouted about the loss of his hotdog. Sei considered this a good time to ask his question.

"Yin, Yang, what would happen, if Crimson were to…die?" He asked quietly. Yang immediately shut up, and Crimson's face turned grave.

"If a Kokoro's Guardian were to die," Yang shuttered at the thought, "The outcome is always different." Yin nodded.

"Like if Crimson were to die, Zelman might lose his fire abilities." She said. Sei's mouth dropped a little. Kotaro gasped. Cain's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, Yafury stopped sharpening his sword and stared at them, and Jiro froze in surprise.

"But as they said," Crimson yawned. "It's always different. I mean, he could lose those powers, or die, or maybe nothing will happen. It's all unknown until it happens." Yang coughed.

"Then there's the other way around." She said.

"If a Kokoro dies, the Guardian…dies. That's because there Kokoro, or heart, no longer exists." Crimson sighed. "That's why I wasn't happy to see Zelman here earlier." He coughed. "Then there's the banishment." Jiro raised an eyebrow.

"What's that mean?" He asked. Crimson lowered his tone.

"That's what happens to a guardian when they let there Kokoro die, even though they could've done something to stop it." He said.

"Yeah, but Crimson, when was the last time a Guardian was banished?" She asked, eyeing him. Crimson thought for a minute.

"About eleven years ago." He answered his little friend. Yang looked surprised.

"I didn't know that." She said. Yin nodded in agreement.

"That soon?" Cain asked. Crimson nodded.

"Who was it?" Kotaro asked.

"Alice Eve's Guardian, Evergreen." He replied.

The whole area went silent. No one even dared to speak. Jiro looked about ready to die. He was the most surprised. Yang dug through her pocket and pulled out a little sphere metal thing with a red dot on the top.

"This, is where evergreen is…" She trailed of, hitting the button, causing a loud ultrasonic beep noise. Kaji's flame flared blue and green, and flared out in all directions and became a map of-

"It's our world!" Sei exclaimed. Yin and Yang nodded. Yang pointed to a tiny red dot and Kaji flared again, zooming in on the dot, and the map turned into what was like a satellite camera on an area.

"That's cool." Zelman said from behind them. Crimson nodded.

"I know right. I thought so too the first time I saw it. Kaji is really amazing." He said to his Kokoro. Yang glanced at the red head out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey hot head." She said. "How much did you hear?" She asked him.

"Just about everything." He said back. Kaji showed them a part of the special zone.

"That's the coven!" Kotaro said loudly. Zelman was now paying attention. Kaji the camera moved around the coven to the back in a small corner of the mansion. There, a large golden tiger was sleeping. It was much smaller than Crimson. It was maybe twice the size of Kotaro.

"Whoa!" Kotaro said kinda loud. Yin clamped her hand down on his mouth as Evergreen's eyes flashed open. Her eyes were an extremely bright sky blue. But what creeped everyone out, was that she was looking strait at them without blinking. Evergreen stood, and shot at them. The next thing they knew, Kaji had shot into the sky, creating daylight again. Yang finally took a breath no one realized she had been holding.

"What was that?" Zelman asked. Yin and Yang looked up at there now colored sky.

"Sei, remember what you asked us earlier?" Yin said. Sei, confused, nodded.

"The reason we have light, is because your world is lighting this world." Yang continued for her black haired twin. Everyone looked as confused as ever.

"Kaji is your world…so to speak." Crimson tried. "Look at the sky." The group complied. "Notice anything?" He asked.

"There's different colors in the sky. Like blue, green, white, yellow, and brown." Cain said looking back down at the black Gryphon.

"That's your world in our sky." He coolly said, receiving stares and jaw drops from different Kokoro.

"If Evergreen would have jumped a second sooner, she'd be back in this world." Yin said out of nowhere. Yang giggled.

"Right. Hey guys," She said. "We're going to the arena." She said, beginning to walk away.

"Where did that come from?" Jiro asked. Zelman shrugged.

"Where did she come from?" He replied. Crimson eyed the sky, then turned towards the moving team.

Arena… 

"So what's up?" Zelman asked. Yang smiled at them. "Yesterday Crimson here was tortured by Scarecrow's Itami." Yang glanced at her feathery friend, who was snickering. He, unlike anyone else (including Yin) knew where she was going with this. Yin's draw dropped when she caught on.

"You're not!" She yelled. Yang laughed.

"You got it." Giggling, Yang pulled another remote out of her pocket.

"How do you fit all that into your pocket?!" Kotaro asked. Zelman snickered.

"Next she'll be pulling out bowling balls and live animals." Yang gave him a confused look, then reached into her pocket, and pulled out a size ten bowling ball. Then, as if that wasn't enough, she reached back into her two inch long, two inch tall skirt pocket, and pulled out a full grown twelve point buck. Zelman's jaw nearly hit the arena's floor as it trotted past everyone and disappeared into the trees.

"H-how did you…" Sei trailed off as Yang laughed at there faces. Yin even looked a little surprised.

"I've been wondering where he went." She said. Zelman ran over to Yang, and shoved his hand into her pocket.

"What else do you have in there?" He asked pulling out anything he could touch. The others watched him throw things behind him. A wallet, photo album, Chihuahua, sword, plush toy, hat, sand, chain, cat, bear, lighter, Yo, scissors, DVD, gum, and a scorpion, that bit him. "Yeow!" He scorched it, at as quickly as it was here, it was gone. Yang smiled at him.

"Done?" He nodded. "Ok! Listen up. I can only explain the rules once. Your job," She clicked a button on the remote and a hole appeared under the whole team, and (of course) they fell. When they hit bottom, everyone but Yin, Yang, and Yo landed on their ass.

"My BUTT!" Kotaro yelled in pain. Zelman sat up, and groaned in pain, as The great Blue Wolf groaned under him.

"Moron." He griped. Yang held her hand out to Zelman, who took it. As she helped him up, she slipped, and her foot slammed into her usual target, causing the red head to fall to the ground next to her.

"Sorry." She grumbled, sitting up. He grunted, accepting her apology. After a few moments, everyone was standing and looking around the strange world.

"Welcome to Otogi." Yin said. Yo coughed, and shifted from left to right.

"You could compare this country as your worlds, uh, Wonderland." He huffed.

"You three do understand that those are just movies, right?" Zelman said referring to Yang's earlier Kung Fu Panda moment.

"What's a movie?" Crimson asked. Zelman facepalmed.

"Anyway," Yin interrupted the confused couple, "Your job is simple enough. All you have to do, is find your coin."

"Coin?" Cain asked. Yang giggled.

"Yep! Like this." She pulled out a gold coin with a purple gem in the middle. "This is Jiro's coin." Yang tossed it in the air, but it never came back down. It had vanished.

"The coins have been scattered throughout Otogi. Fortunately for you all, the country is insanely small. You can go to every part of the country in one day, so you have it easy." Yo grumbled.

"Yeah, when we had to do this, we had our coins scattered through Yougon. The second largest country in the nation." Yang muttered. Yin sighed at her down siblings.

"Even though it is simple, there is a catch." She said. "One, you are timed. You have two days to find your coin. Two, you have to split up. No Kokoro can help you find your coin, but a native of Otogi can. And three, Yang, Yo, Crimson, and I will not be here to help you." Yang laughed.

"Oh, and we'll be watching, so we'll know if ya'll are cheating, K?" Yang said.

"And if you do cheat, the consequences will hurt, a lot." Crimson warned. Then Yang pressed a button, and the four of them were gone.

"Ok, well I don't know about you all, but I have officially counted these guys as freaks." Yafury said walking off. Zelman had been gone for almost seven minutes before anyone noticed, and soon everyone had split up.

"Like Wonderland huh?" Zelman muttered to himself. "This outta be interesting."

And the race for the coins, began.


	7. Chapter 7 The Coin and Clock

**Hey sorry this chapter took a little longer than my other ones. It's probably a little longer than my previous chapters as well. Bare with me this chapter, there are gonna be lots of new characters met and a couple Yin and Yang secrets are reviled. **

**I do not own black blood brothers, but I do own Yin, Yang And anything else in this story that isn't BBB.**

**Chapter 7**

Kotaro tripped for the twelfth time in the last hour, and he finally figured out it was his shoe lace. As he bent down to tie it, something darted past him into the bushes. He eyed the bush, before it jumped him. He screamed, and fell backwards. Something warm was hitting his face over and over, so he opened his eyes and saw a golden tiger licking his face.

"Wow." He breathed out. The cat's shiny sky blue eyes fixed themselves on the blonde's face. "Your, Evergreen…right?" The cat sneezed in his face. Then something hit him. "Aren't you not aloud to be here?" Evergreen sat on her haunches and looked at him with big, sad blue eyes that began to water. He quickly took back his offensive words. "Ah! I'm so sorry! Please don't cry Evergreen!" She began purring, and jumped on him, and soaked his face with licks.

Meanwhile…

Zelman walked down the dirt road he luckily found during his time in the damn forest. He pulled the last spider web off, throwing it to the ground, when he heard it. It wasn't loud. Maybe only a black blood could've heard it from his distance. A howl. But, it was coming closer. Suddenly, the noise stopped. Zelman listened for a minute or two before shrugging, and continuing down the dirt trail.

Yafury… 

Yafury jumped on another building, wondering why the entire city was full of jokers and jesters. Hopping to the ground, a boy about his age ran past him, and the Kowloon child was certainly confused at that moment. The boy's hat had fallen off to reveal two brown rabbit ears. He was as tall as Yafury. His hair was a light brown almost orange, and his eyes were tan. He wore a black sweatshirt with a silver colored cross on the left side. He wore blue jeans, and black and silver tennis shoes. He turned towards Yafury, who grabbed the hilt of his sword in defense.

"Pardon," He said, reaching down and picking up his hat. When he stood he held out his hand to Yafury. "Pardon, me name's March Hare."

"Strange name for a strange kid." Yafury said out loud, taking his hand. The boy laughed at the strangers words.

"Yes, me strange." He said. Yafury glanced at him.

"Dude…do you always talk like that?" He asked. The boy looked confused.

"Uh-hun." He replied. "Me always talk this way. It how I speak. Don't like?" Yafury got the feeling he was being watched by someone. Glancing around the now almost empty street, he answered the hurt rabbit boy.

"No. I never said I didn't like it, it's just I know a girl named Yang who would do something like that to annoy us. So, I was just making sure you weren't just messing with me." He said, finally looking at March again, who had his mouth hanging open to the floor. He tugged Yafury away from an upcoming group of jesters.

"Know Yang Kunone?!" He asked. "Silver Katsuni?" Yafury had never heard that one before. He just nodded. March's tan eyes sparkled brightly in admiration. "Know Silver Katsuni! Great Katsuni…dead was..." Yafury didn't get that last part. Why was he calling Yang, Silver Katsuni?

"Hey March-" He was cut off by an explosion not too far off.

"What that?" March yelled. Yafury shook his head.

"I dunno." He replied staring where the noise came from. "But I'm gonna find out."

Cain…

Finding the coin wasn't that hard, but now he just had to get the damn thing. It was in the center of a long table covered with tea cups, scones, and cakes. There were chairs all around the table, but only three people were there. A big throne-like chair sat at the head of the large table. A small girl with blue shoulder length hair and mouse ears was sleeping next to the head chair. On the other side, two twin boys were arguing over which type of weapon was better. Unlike Yin and Yang, these boys wore different outfits, you couldn't tell them apart. The one on the left wore a blue long sleeve t-shirt and army ACU pants. His hair was blackish blue, and his eyes were black with a green tint. The other boy was the exact opposite. He wore a long sleeve red t-shirt, and blue ACU pants, along with black reddish hair, and emerald eyes with a black tint.

"No way twin," The blue one argued loudly. Cain was surprised the mouse girl was still asleep with all there arguing. "A gun is better than any knife! A gun or grenade can be used for explosions and you don't have to be anywhere near them to blast them to bits." He giggled evilly.

"Zelman would love these kids…" Cain muttered to himself. The red one shook his head in annoyance.

"No brother, the best weapons are the ones you need skill to use them. A sword, or knife is best for any fight." He smiled at his pouting twin. "But, the best weapons in existence…are two things." The blue one shook his head and put up three fingers. The red one nodded. "Right. Three things. One, your feelings. A hurt comrade infuriates you till you get revenge on what caused it. Two, yourself. There is nothing more powerful, than your own annoyance. And three," He pulled a long axe out of nowhere. His twin brought out a blue one. "This thing." They laughed together, there argument long forgotten. The blue mouse girl sneezed, and sat up yawning.

"Morning Gimi, Morning Mini. Squeak." She said through a long yawn.

"Good afternoon, Mousie." They said in unison. She squeaked at them.

"Gimi-ni, (That's what people call the twins when talking to both of them at the same time), were you two fighting over something useless again?" Someone yawned, coming up from behind the throne chair and slouched in it lazily. Cain's eyes went huge with surprise.

Sitting in the chair was Zelman Clock!

Kotaro…

Evergreen trotted alongside the running blonde. Time in this country was more messed up than Yin and Yang's. It had already been a whole day. If he didn't hurry, who knows what would happen to him. Stopping suddenly, he turned to a shimmer in a huge thorny rose bush. There was the coin with the yellow stone in the center. His coin!

"What luck!" He yelled to himself. "Now, how do I get it out?" As he was thinking, Evergreen charged the bush, destroying it, and implanting thorns into her skin. Kotaro snatched up the coin, that flashed, and the stone vanished, singling that he had it in his possession. "Evergreen, are you hurt?" She mewed, and continued liking her paw, and Kotaro began pulling thorns off her fur.

Sei…

"Got it!" He said to himself as he had captured the thief. The white rabbit struggled under Sei, who grabbed his coin back. The purple stone in the center vanished for the second time that day, thanks to the rabbit. The white rabbit stood on its two back feet.

"You didn't have to be so rude." He said. Sei laughed.

"Well, you didn't have to steal my coin." He replied, earning a shrug from the rabbit, who clapped his paws together, and transformed into a human.

"You can really run when you want to." Yo grumbled. Sei wasn't surprised to see on of the triplets here.

"I thought you were a fox like Yin and Yang." He said. Yo chuckled.

"Well yeah. Officially I am." He said. "But I can transform into other mammals like Yu can. But she can transform into any animal, I can only do mammals." He said, nodding to himself.

"Who's Yu?" Sei asked. Yo looked at him.

"Yin and Yang didn't tell you?" He sounded surprised. Sei shook his head. "Yu is the last twin. She is kinda in between Yin and Yang when it comes to personality, and she's the only one of us with colored hair. Her hair's gold." He said.

"Huh? I wonder why Yin and Yang never mentioned her…" Sei trailed off.

Cain…

Zelman was staring at the twins lazily, while Mousie yawned a hello, squeak.

"Morning Mousie." He mumbled. Cain was wondering what the hell he was doing when he saw Zelman was wearing a necklace. It was a leather rope wrapped around his neck, and a coin with a red stone was dangling on the end.

"Lucky bastard has free time…" He muttered. Zelman had found his before he did, that made Cain mad at himself. But with Zelman there, at least he could walk up and get his coin now, right?

"Whatcha doing?" Yafury asked the Blue Wolf, walking up to him, holding a coin without a stone in his hand. Behind him, March was fiddling with one of his long ears.

"Trying to get my coin. You?" He mumbled. Yafury glanced out of the hiding place and March whimpered.

"What's wrong, March?" Yafury asked. March looked at his poisonous friend.

"Eye's. Eye's devil." He said pointing to the red head at the head of the table. Cain didn't understand, but Yafury was learning.

"What about Zelman?" He asked. March looked very confused.

"Zelman? Clock." He said as if it made sense. Yafury and Cain just stared at him. Suddenly, the light shot out of the sky, and it was pitch black.

"Damn. I have to get my coin before it turns daylight again." Cain growled. Zelman turned his head towards the hiding trio.

"Are you three going to stand there forever?" He said yawning again. Gimi and Mini stopped there third quarrel to stare at the three upcoming visitors. Mousie squeaked, and flicked her tail.

"You know these guys boss?" Gimi, the red one, asked the red head, who shook his head.

"Never seen them before." He replied to the boy. Cain snorted.

"Right. Not funny Zelman." He said annoyed, grabbing his coin, causing the white stone in the center to vanish. Zelman's eyes flashed with anger at something Cain had said. He lowered his tone to where he sounded like death itself.

"What did you just call me?" He growled. March hid behind a confused Kowloon child.

"I just called you Zelman, Zelman." Cain said. Zelman stood slowly, and growled loudly. Mousie jumped under the table, and Gimi-ni gulped, then smiled at each other.

"Oooohhhhhh! BUSTED!" They sang in unison. Zelman jumped up on the table and began to stalk toward Cain.

"One more time." He threatened. "Call me that again. Do it."

"Zelman, what are you doing?" Jiro asked from behind Cain. Zelman shook with a rage no one understood. Sei watched the red head from a rock he was seated on, and Kotaro was just getting there when Zelman threw a fireball at Cain and Jiro. They quickly dodged it, but two more followed, then two more after that. Evergreen stood off to the side of Kotaro, unmoving.

"Zelman-Sama! What are you doing?" Kotaro yelled at his angry friend. Zelman turned to the blonde with blazing eyes.

"You too?" He yelled back. Then threw a big fireball at him. Kotaro closed his eyes and waited for the burning inferno that would surly kill him, but it never came. He looked up to see Evergreen collapse to the floor. She had saved his life by taking the hit for him.

"Evergreen!" He hollered, running to the tiger, who glanced up at him with shimmering eyes.

"I'm sorry I failed you again, Alice." The first words she said to him were her last. Her eyes faded black, and her head slumped to the ground. Her fur shimmered, and she slowly faded into nothing. Kotaro began crying. Even though he didn't know what she meant, he understood that she was trying to right the wrong she did. She was sorry for letting that Alice die when she could've stopped it. He stared at Zelman.

"What the hell is your problem?!" He yelled at him. Zelman cocked his head.

"It was her fault for getting in my way." He said. Cain lashed out at him again, and he easily dodged.

"Either Zelman was hit in the head really hard, or he's just being a bigger ass than usual." Jiro spat. Zelman growled again, and slammed hit foot down on the floor, causing an eruption of fire to shoot at the two black bloods.

Suddenly, the fire subsided, and a black vortex appeared in front of them, and when it finally vanished, a black Gryphon stood there, clearly, pissed.

"Ah…Crimson, long time, no annoy." Zelman sighed casually.

"Clock, don't you have anything better to do than make my job harder than it already is?" He growled back, all four of the great beasts feet were engulfed in flames, as well as his whip like tail that was swishing angrily.

"Clock?" Yafury asked. Kotaro had gotten up, and walked over to the group.

"Yes. This is Clock. Zelman's demon." He growled.

Meanwhile…

Zelman had seen a lot of flashing lights not too far away, so he was headed over. The only thing bothering him now, was the footsteps. They were offbeat from his now, unlike earlier. He stopped again, and flipped around, but once again, nothing was there. He was starting to think this place was just making him go crazy.

Shrugging, he turned back around, and was grabbed by a strong force, then whatever it was, smacked him in the back of the head causing the red head to black out. He needed to get out of there, but he couldn't. He for once, needed help. And he needed it now.


	8. Chapter 8 Dark Light and Awkward Fright

**Chapter 8**

Zelman rubbed his head, and growled at his captor.

"That hurt you inconsiderate bitch." He griped, touching his head where it had been hit and winced again. Yang giggled in apology. As if that was an apology.

"Sorry…I was trying to find you, then I fell and my feet flew in the air and somehow connected to the back of your head." She explained as they walked through the forest in the pitch black dark. (Besides the small fireball in front, giving them some light without burning the forest down.)

Zelman stopped for a split second before replying. "Are you telling me you didn't plan that?" Yang nodded.

"You know, I actually didn't plan the last one either, remember?" She said, glancing out of the corner of her black eyes to see Zelman staring at her. "What now?" She asked, turning her body towards the red head. He stared some more. Why was he staring? He didn't know.

"…Why?" He said. She rolled her eyes.

"Hothead, I haven't slept in three days now, I. Am. Tired." She said, actually looking serious. Then Zelman remembered when they had woken her up, and he had payed the price for it. He silently took one step back when she glared at his silence. Damn, she could be scary when she was tired. She made Zelman himself back away.

"Why'd you come looking for…_me_?" He finally got out. She stared at him, then laughed hysterically.

"Whoa Hothead!" She giggled, nearly backing into the mini fireball, which Zelman had to move so she wouldn't hit it. "Careful. I like you Reddish, but not so much I'd wanna pick out curtains or something." Zelman's eyes widened at her words, then started laughing.

"Right. I'd get with you." He said sarcastically. Yang laughed harder, though most people would consider that an insult, she didn't understand that he was trying to change the subject by being rude. But he was wondering, why was she looking for him instead of someone else.

Meanwhile…

Clock sat back in his seat, and fiddled with the coin, while Crimson filled the others in about demons.

"So in short, a demon is the opposite of a guardian." He concluded. "A Guardian protects the Kokoro, while the Akuma (demons of that world), try to kill their Kokoro."

"And the Guardian and Akuma share the same Kokoro because-" Clock yawned. Kotaro didn't hate Zelman or Crimson, but this guy was beyond any bastard he's ever met.

"The longer a Guardian keeps his Kokoro alive, the stronger he or she is." The Gryphon said. "If the Guardian dies, the Akuma gains his power, and if the Kokoro dies, the Guardian dies, and the Akuma gains infinite power." Clock smiled at that, and let the coin fall on his chest. There was a blast behind him, and as everyone turned, a loud roar came from the same area, making Clock and Crimson shiver.

Back to Hothead and Silver…

Zelman glanced at Yang for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. The bump on his head was throbbing, and he couldn't understand Yang's actions.

"You ok?" She asked him, cutting through his thoughts like scissors.

"Sure. Why do you ask?" He replied. She looked at the fireball floating in midair.

"It's just, your fire's dimmed a few times now, and I was wondering if you were ok. That's all." She sighed, rocking on her heels for a second before doing three flips for no reason.

"Why do you do that?" He asked, catching up to the giggling girl. She looked at him, smiling brightly.

"Cause Crimson always told me to never take life seriously, because you never come out of it alive anyway." She giggled and flipped again. "And because I feel like it." That brought a previous question to Zelman's mind.

"Yang, you and Crimson seem…close." He remarked. Yang shrugged as she skipped alongside Zelman.

"Yeah, well I've known him so long, he's kinda like my big brother." Yang thought for a moment. "Or my best friend…" She trailed off, and began walking instead of her usual skipping and flipping. Zelman looked at her. Her hair was smooth but looked as if they could slice something like a sword. The blouse she wore fit her body perfectly, and that skirt was almost too short. And her eyes, even though they were just black, they shimmered like a bright star. And his fire did wonders to the reflection in them. When she wasn't trying to kill him, or kick him in the crotch, she could easily pass for breathtakingly, beautiful…..Wait. WHAT?! Zelman caught himself in mid thought of over the border line "Not Right" thoughts, and quickly diminished the small fireball so there was absolutely no way Yang could see his face go redder than his hair.

"Hey! You ok?" She yelled, and tried to get to "Hothead", but tripped over something she couldn't see, and crashed into him, knocking him over, and landing under him. "Opps…" She muttered.

Meanwhile…

"What was that?" Sei asked, hearing a noise. Clock cocked his head, when another roar.

"A dragon that just landed behind us that wants to kill me and big bird here." He mumbled pointing to the Gryphon, who snarled at him as another sound went off.

"No, that!" Sei said shooting up from his resting place. March lifted an ear.

"Yang, Reddish." He concluded, receiving confused stares from almost everyone. Clocks eyes went wide for a second.

"Reddish? Did he look like me?" Everyone turned to him with deadly glares, and he looked back, unfazed.

"Don't even think about it." Crimson warned. Clock yawned.

"Y'know, it sucks that I can't kill you." He mumbled.

Back to Awkward Moment…

For an 800 year old blood, he really felt stupid. First off, he stares at a girl who's been kicking him in the crotch ever since they met, and not only staring, but thinking she's breathtakingly beautiful! Then, to top that off, he falls on her in the middle of the dark. And what's worst, he hasn't moved. He had no idea what to do at that moment.

As for Yang, all she was thinking was "Yin is going to scalp me!" times about one million. And to make it the absolute opposite of perfect, it turned daylight, and Kotaro came into view right after that.

"Hey Zelm-" He stopped mid walk _and_ mid sentence when he saw there position. Crimson came up behind him and stared, and stared, then burst into rounds of hysteric laughter. He fell on his back, and started rolling around on the forest floor, crying because he was laughing so hard. Sei just stood there, speechless. Cain and Jiro stopped in their tracks, and their jaws both dropped to China. (Wherever that is from there…) Yafury started laughing as hard as Crimson, but for a different reason. He was laughing at the black bloods reactions. Gimi-ni came up after that and they looked pissed.

"What the hell?" Clock blurted out from his perch on a low tree branch. Zelman blushed, and Yang went wide eyed, before they both jumped in opposite directions.

"Why you!" Gimi growled at the red head. Mini held his giant axe at the ready.

"Hold it you two, if someone's gonna kill him, let it be me." Clock sighed before another roar went off behind them. They turned to see a dragon one and a half times the size of Crimson standing there, staring past the black bloods, to the two recently in a very awkward situation.

"I won't ask." It said in a low almost inaudible tone.

"Who the hell are you?" Yafury asked. The reptile turned to the Kowloon.

"I'm Dragon, Sei's Guardian." He said as another explosion went off behind Dragon.

"Dragon if you don't get out of my way this second I'll kill you too!" A very familiar yet terrifying voice screamed. Dragon _and_ Crimson took to the air to get away from the murderous beast.

Yin stormed past Cain, Jiro, Sei, Yafury, Yo (Who has been in the background the whole chapter.), March, and Kotaro up to her target. "Zelman Clock!" She yelled, slamming her fist into his crotch. (Yang's powerful feature is her feet, Yin's are her hands, Yo's arms are his, and Yu's, you haven't met her yet, are her legs.) He doubled over, and she put her fists together, and slammed them down on his upper spine. Then she lifted his head by the hair (where his bump is). "If you ever touch Yang again, I will _kill_ you." After that, she dropped him to the ground. She walked to the front of the group, as Dragon and Crimson lowered themselves to the forest ground. Crimson ran over to Zelman to check and make sure he was still living, while Clock and Gimi-ni laughed so hard they were on the floor, rolling around like idiots. Yang skipped over to him, but a glare from her silver eyed sister not to touch him. Then Yin smiled. "Okay, let's go home!" She chirped, opening a hole, and jumping through.

"I thought Yang was the one with the hormonal imbalance." Kotaro mumbled, hopping through, followed quickly by his older brother.

"Here, here." Dragon said, with Sei sitting on his back, nodding in agreement, as he hopped in as well, followed by Cain, and Gimi-ni, who said they had orders from their "boss" to keep an eye on his Kokoro for him. For some odd reason, Clock had disappeared without anyone noticing. Crimson trotted to the hole, did a mid air flip, then free fell through the hole. Yafury had talked his new pal, March into coming along, and as soon as they agreed, they were gone, leaving Zelman with the devil's twin sister.

"You ok Hothead?" He asked kindly. Zelman stood slowly. Man, he thought Yang's kicks hurt! The other one could pack a punch! Any harder and he'd be a female now.

"Y-Yeah…" He looked at her smiling face before Yin's scream interrupted them.

"Yang Kunone! You! Here! NOW!" She did not sound happy at all. They made there way to the hole and hopped down as Yang snapped her fingers.

"Oh yeah!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a cola and handed it to Zelman. "Little birdie told me you liked this stuff. So I ran to the human world not too long ago and-" Before she could finish what she was saying, Zelman had snatched the coke up, and kissed her out of happiness. Apparently, they hadn't noticed they were already back.

"I don't think Zelman likes being a girl, twin." Gimi snickered to his brother, who laughed out loud in return. Yin popped her knuckles as everyone covered there eyes. Zelman went a hundred times whiter than he originally was.

"Oh shit." Yang whispered. This was going, to hurt.


	9. Chapter 9 Loss at a New Level

**Chapter 9**

A knock came from Zelman's door, causing him to jump a little. Kotaro, who was outside at the moment, yelled out something he couldn't here to the knocker, and then a voice knocked instead.

"Zelman, I'm sorry I beat you up so hard…Yang wants you to come out." That's it! He thought.

"Why would she want me to come out?" He griped from his couch. Why did she like him now, all of a sudden? Yin slammed her fist down on the door, taking it off its hinges. She stalked up to him, grabbed his collar, and shook him as she yelled.

"She wants you to come out because everyone's wondering what you did wrong, and there bugging her about it. She wants you to come out because she's taken a liking to you. And she wants you to come out so she can tell us all something!" And after that, she threw Zelman to the floor, and left. Dragon snickered from his spot.

"If he keeps that up, he'll be dead before Scarecrow wakes up Ritsuzen." He said, making Crimson stop playing with Yang (He was holding something out of her reach, so she would try to jump for it), and stare at Dragon wide eyed, and everyone else was just confused. Yang shrunk next to Crimson, Who put a huge arm around her protectively.

"Your joking, right Dragon?" The huge Gryphon asked warily. The twins were hiding behind Cain, when they jumped out, and were shaking there arms franticly.

"No! It's true! It's true!" Gimi yelled.

"Boss was talking about Ritsuzen earlier." The group's eyes turned to the frantic twins. Yang peeped out of her black, feathery cocoon to look at them.

"Why would he wake him up?" Yin asked them, walking up to the group. Dragon chuckled next to Sei, who couldn't figure out his Guardian.

"Who is Ritsuzen?" He questioned. Dragon glanced at Sei before answering.

"Ritsuzen is the only known living half breed we know of." That didn't help, and he could tell.

"A half breed is part Guardian, part Akuma." Yin tried, receiving "Ohhh's" from everyone. Kotaro put a finger to his chin.

"So what makes him so dangerous?" He asked. Yang disappeared, then came up behind Kotaro, who screamed in surprise, as Kaji shot out of the sky, but a color was still up there.

"Shit." Yin muttered. "Yang tell me that isn't purple." Yang looked up.

"It's not purple." She said, following her sister's orders.

"Now tell me that seriously." The black haired girl stated. Yang gave her twin a "Yeesh" look.

"Now twin, if I did that, I'd be lying, wouldn't I?" She explained honestly. Yin rolled her eyes.

"What's going on?" Cain asked. Yin and Yang stood, and Yang jumped into Kaji, who flashed purple, then returned to normal. Yin looked up at the color.

"What the hell is going on?" She muttered, looking down. "It's happening to fast. Scarecrow, Storm, Ice, Fire, Light, Dark, Truth, and Lie. What the hell is happening to us?" Then she looked at them. "Sorry guys, I'll explain your questions later, but for now, I need you to stay here." Then she followed her sister, leaving everyone confused and worried.

"That's not good." Dragon sighed from his spot.

"What do you mean?" Kotaro asked, sitting by his brother, who had a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Unless we can do something quickly, someone is going to die tonight." He muttered.

Meanwhile…

"Why Japan?" Yang asked her sister, who was hopping buildings alongside her twin.

"Because it's _always_ Japan." She replied. She looked over at her twin. She had her usual, big smile, and she looked as carefree as usual. But she had a feeling she was hiding something even from her. Her eyes were less sparkly, and she was less chipper and giggly lately, and it freaked Yin out.

"Hey twin, is that it?" Yang said pointing to a large shadow in mid air.

"Yep. Let's go." She said hopping off the last big building.

At Chitaqua… 

"So what do we do?" Yafury growled at the reptile. Crimson got ready to jump into Kaji, and Cain stood.

"What do we do?" He asked. Crimson slapped himself.

"Kaji, what are they after?" He spoke directly into the fire. Kaji flared, and showed them, in his camera form, two twins fighting with some big, black thing. Crimson hissed, and shot into the fire, followed quickly by Dragon.

"Come on!" Yafury yelled, jumping into Kaji. Cain watched the twins grab March by the ears and throw him into the bonfire. Then giggling, they followed. Cain and Sei glanced at each other for a moment, before Jiro kicked Cain in headfirst, then he followed, with Sei not far behind. Kotaro was about to jump, when he remembered the only one who was absent during the conversation. He walked into their cabin and looked around.

"Zelman-Sama?" He asked no one in particular, because no one was there. Zelman was gone.

Yin and Yang…

Yang jumped away from its large claw and landed on its shoulder.

"You wanna tell what the hell this thing is?!" She yelled at Yin, who was busy at that moment, trying to pry herself from the giants grasp.

"Could it wait?!" She yelled back as the thing tightened its grasp on the black haired girl. "Son of a bitch!" She choked out. Yang had to giggle at that.

Suddenly, there was a huge flash, and the monster reared back and roared in pain as Yin fell to the ground.

"What'd you do?" Yang asked, jumping down to her sister. A blue, circular light was hanging in the air not far from them, then, more appeared. There were six in all. "Cool lights." She chirped as more colors came into view.

"Kaji." Yin gasped at the fire's true form. The blue lights moved in unison as it made a whip like motion and struck the ground. With a sound like thunder, more colors shot through an invisible creature until it was clearly visible. A red and black dragon looking creature without wings stood in front of Yin and Yang protectively. The blue lights on its tail flickered as its golden eyes narrowed and it screeched at the monster.

"Yu!" Yang cheered at the creature. (Yu is Kaji). Yu roared, then smacked its tail into the ground, causing a wave of bright, molten color to spread throughout its body. Before it could attack the monster, something slammed into it. Cain and Jiro held it down while Yafury jumped on its head, knocking it into the ground and holding it. Sei stood in front of Yin and Yang, and Dragon and Crimson were in the air, flying in circles.

"Uhh, guys?" Yin said, putting her fingers to her temple, while Yang laughed psychotically. "That's the wrong monster…" She muttered, pointing to the real threat. The Kokoro all went "Ohh" and jumped off the creature, who stood, and whip lashed his tail on the ground, making another thunder sound.

"Nicely done." Gimi-ni laughed along with Yang. Sei sighed, and Dragon and Crimson facepalmed themselves. The big monster growled in annoyance, then shot a clawed fist at them. Cain jumped backwards as Jiro advanced, jumping on its hand and slicing the claws off, making it screech again. Yafury took this chance to slash its left ankle. Screeching in rage now, it shot after Sei, who wasn't paying attention and wasn't ready. The thing slammed its good fist into him, making him fly backwards and smash into a brick wall.

"Sei!" Kotaro yelled, running to him.

"Lord Dragon!" Cain roared. Cain was holding back the monsters hand, so he could only watch what was happening. Kotaro got to Sei, whose glasses were broken, and shattered all over him. Kotaro quickly pulled them off and wiped away the glass so Sei wouldn't get cut, and checked his pulse.

"Sei! Sei say something! Anything!" He yelled at the limp boy. Something slammed into the ground really hard. Crimson shot to its side.

"Dragon!" He hollered at the reptile. Dragon didn't reply. Cain roared in rage, and threw the monster back the length of half a football field. Cain grew and Yafury shivered at the sight. He had become his wolf man form. Jiro jumped up, and slammed his sword down on the things arm. Cain tore it clean off. Yin and Yang teamed up and went for the things neck. Yu, the colored lizard, disappeared and the blue lights whipped themselves at the thing.

"Come on Sei, wake up!" Kotaro said, his eyes tearing up. There was a small moan, then Sei opened his eyes.

"Mmmngn…" He muttered. Kotaro smiled.

"Sei! Wait, what did you say?" He asked.

"Could you stop standing on my arm please?" He mumbled. Kotaro jumped up.

"Oh! Sorry!" He held his hand out to Sei, who smiled, and took it. Suddenly, there was a loud blast, and the monster screamed in dire pain. A giant blade shot out of its chest, and it faded into shadows.

"What the hell?" Gimi-ni said together. March's eyes went wide as he saw what it was.

"Bad One!" He exclaimed. Yafury stood next to him, and March hid somewhat behind him. Kotaro helped Sei over to them, and Cain lifted him on his shoulders.

"Thank you Cain. Thanks Kotaro." He said softly. Kotaro smiled brightly, and Cain nodded. Yin, Yang, and Yu stood together as they waited for the terror. Crimson stood in front of Dragon, who was trying to stand. Then, he came out.

"Well if it isn't my favorite band of morons." Scarecrow laughed. Yang whimpered, and Yin glared as Yu smacked the ground with its tail. Scarecrow grabbed something that was behind him and dropped it in front of him. Yo struggled under the chains as he sat up.

"Yo!" The twins yelled at there brother. Scarecrow smiled evilly.

"Well now, a family reunion of all four of you Kunone is rare, no?" He asked no one. He took his left foot with three sharp talons, and brought it down across Yo's back. Yo screamed in pain, and Yin covered her sisters ears, but she had heard it.

"Bastard!" The silver haired girl screamed at the black winged black blood, who raised his gaze to her. His eyes flashed ice, and Yang dropped to the ground in agony.

"Yang!" Everyone yelled, running to her. She grabbed her head and screamed over and over.

"Mmmhhnn!" Yo yelled through the gag around his face. Scarecrow kicked him with his talons, and his eyes glared into Yang.

"Yang! Yang, wake up!" Yin screamed. There was one thing that could cause her too much pain too bare. And Scarecrow was making her mentally relive it.

In Yang's Head…

Yang was six, running for her life from the terrifying Ritsuzen, willing to do anything to kill the threat of its Kokoro. As she ran, her bare feet were being sliced by thorns and saw grass. Her arms tattered by ongoing branches, and her face had cuts from similar objects. Ritsuzen was behind her, closing in, when she fell. Her ankle had gotten aught on a small branch, and she was trapped.

Outside…

"Yang!" Yin lifted her twins arm, and bent it backwards. There was a sickening crunch, then Yang's eyes shot open and she shot upright. Sei, who was still seated on Cain's shoulder, tapped her head in a comforting way. Scarecrows eye's darkened, and a deadly scowl was visible on the boys face.

"Fine. If you won't die, he will!" He snarled. Just as everyone turned their heads, Scarecrow had flashed his eyes at Yo and he hit the ground writhing in pain, then, Scarecrow flashed his eyes again, and Yo immediately split in half at the waist. Yin covered her mouth, while Yu flinched. Yang slammed her hands on the ground and screamed. The Kokoro looked as if they were going to throw up.

"Scarecrow!" She charged him, but he moved, and kicked her backwards, making her skid across the ground. Yo flashed, and he faded into the darkness. Yang shot up again, her left ear had a hole in the top. She was getting ready to jump him again when he reached into his back pocket.

"There is one more thing I wanted to tell you." He pulled something black and grey out of nowhere. "I wouldn't bother looking for that red head friend of yours. I personally took care of that brat." He said throwing the item at their feet. It was Zelman's jacket. And it was soaked in blood with tears and claw cuts all over it. After saying that, he vanished, leaving everyone speechless.


	10. Chapter 10 Ritsuzen War

**Chapter 10**

Yang would've fallen, if Cain hadn't picked her up and held her, as Sei had asked him to. Yin was crying silently, and Yu shrunk into her true form. A small girl with gold hair in four pigtails with white eyes, stood where it had been, and was bawling loudly. Kotaro was crying harder that just about everyone.

"Wait, how come you're not dead, Crimson?" Jiro asked. Crimson shrugged.

"I was never officially Zelman's Guardian, so I'm not affected like the others." He frowned sadly. "I am a very rare species of Guardian. We were to choose our Kokoro instead of being born with that one. Then when our current Kokoro were to die, we choose a new one." He sighed. "That sucks. I really liked that kid." Kotaro was bawling. He knew he should've told someone that Zelman wasn't in his room, and now it was too late. Cain was holding onto Yang, who had finally broke down and bawled, and Sei was patting her head soothingly, trying not to cry himself. Yu transformed to a fire pit and they started returning to Chitaqua, and when they were back, the twins weren't surprised by what they saw. One, the entire camp, except the bonfire pit and the giant oak were in ruins. Two, the Oak was burned like it was on fire, and three, a lot of Guardians were standing there waiting for them.

"Kunone!" One dog like Guardian hollered over the others. Suddenly, they were bombarded with questions. What's going on? Where did they go? What happened to Yo? Why is Yang in a Kokoro's arms? What are the Kokoro doing here? Why was it still Dark? And other questions like that. Sei's aura suddenly grew to a terrifying level that shut them all up.

"That's enough!" He yelled out. "Can't you see they're devastated? Leave them alone for a moment." He warned. When he calmed down, no one spoke. Yang was clutching Zelman's ruined jacket and Yu shot back into the sky, causing daylight. Yin looked around and sighed in annoyance.

"Dammit, today is not my day. Now, I have a huge mess to clean up." She walked past them, and started picking up anything that could be destroyed.

"Help I will." March said following her to a trash pile, followed by Yafury, who understood.

"Yeah, I'll help too!" Kotaro said happily, running over to where Gimi and Mimi were picking up pieces of metal.

"We will help too." Four Guardian strangers called out. One was a purple imp with silver claws and teeth. His hat was a dead give away. This one was Jiro's Guardian.

"Thanks Full Moon." Yin said walking past them. "Yang, make yourself useful and clean something." Yang nodded, and stepped away from Cain, dragging Zelman's jacket behind her. She smiled her cheery smile, but what Sei and Cain saw was a girl trying to be happy for the people in front of her so they won't worry about her. Full Moon motioned for his three small friends, a floating blue fish, a frog, and a pink bunny followed him to the cabin area. A giant black snake slithered its way up to Jiro.

"I am sssorry I couldn't have been there to help you when it was needed." It said, its large forked tongue the size of Kotaro went in and out of its mouth rapidly.

"Cassa's Guardian?" He replied. The snake nodded.

"My name's Hibi." She said quietly. A giant ferret the size of Cain jumped on Hibi's head.

"Yo! What's up?" He said. The marks on its face proved it was Yafury's Guardian.

"Fury, you have exactly two ssseconds before I fill you with so much poissson, you won't be able to tell your head apart from your assss." Before she was done, Fury was over by his Kokoro, helping him lift a heavy board. Hibi shook her head, then followed Jiro to help him with the oak tree. They were pulling off dead limbs, so the tree could live. Sei and Cain were working on a piece of a wall when the wall decided it didn't like Sei and collapsed on him. Cain was trying to lift it when a large blue wolf wearing pants and walking on two feet walked up to them, and helped them lift it. This guy was taller than Crimson and Dragon put together, but he was friendly enough, and was careful with his strength as he picked Sei up and held him in the palm of his hand.

"You ok?" He asked Lord Dragon.

"Yes, thank you." He replied. "Your Cain's Guardian?" He asked the giant wolf, who set him down on Cain's shoulders.

"That's right. I am Warlock." He answered the small boy. Crimson perched on the wolf's shoulder.

"Yeah, if you think he's tall now, wait till you see this guy when he's pissed." Crimson laughed. Sei then understood. Everyone was trying to smile through their pain. Scarecrow killed Yo and Zelman, and destroyed everything to put fear and Devastation into their hearts. That's where he got his strength. Through other peoples pain. And everyone here was not going to let him win. They were going to smile through their pain, so they could show Scarecrow that they will not give into his torture. Full Moon picked up Zelman's tattered jacket that Yang had set down and was going to throw that away, when Yang sprinted over and snatched it up in her hands and growled at him.

"Sorry!" He said, walking away to something else. Yang huffed, and put the ruined, bloody jacket on, and zipped it up. It was too big for her, and the sleeves went well over her hands, but she didn't care. She liked it.

"Do you think Yang loved Zelman?" Yin overheard Gimi talking to his twin as they cleaned some broken glass.

"I think so Gimi." Mini replied. "I mean, think about it. She didn't freak out when he kissed her, or fell on top of her." Yin thought about it. She walked over to Yang.

"Hey Yang," She said getting her sisters attention. Yang stopped humming, and looked at her twin, "did you love Zelman?" Crimson and Warlock were eavesdropping on this conversation while they cleaned not to far off.

"Yin, what's love?" She asked in reply. Yin had forgotten. The reason Yang was cheery all the time and never embarrassed was because she didn't understand feelings, even if she had them.

"Never mind." Yin said back. "How much did you like Zelman?" She asked instead. Yang thought for a second.

"A lot." She replied. "He was fun, kinda annoying, but he was never boring, and sometimes, he was even nice to me." She smiled at her memories of her red head friend. Yin sighed. There was her answer.

"Hey guys!" Fury yelled from not far away. "What's this?" He asked. Not far off from the camp, a scarecrow was on a pole, glaring towards them. Yin shrugged.

"That's always been there." She said coolly as Yang shivered.

"That stupid thing always freaked me out." She griped. "But we never bothered to get rid of it. Hey remember when we stapled Yo to it Crimson?" She asked giggling. Yin's eyes widened.

"You did what?!" She asked loudly as crimson and Yang burst into rounds of giggles. "Well that explains why he hated that thing so freakn' much." She growled. Warlock snickered as Hibi hissed in laughter. Soon, everyone was laughing hysterically. Full Moon ran up to the giant group of gigglers panting.

"You all might want to see this." He said seriously. Yin and Yang followed Full Moon to the open arena.

"What is it?" Cain asked. Sei, who was on Cain's shoulder, looked around, but didn't see anything. Yin and Yang saw it first.

"Oh that's just perfect." Yang groaned. Full Moon pointed to the other side of the chasm, where hundreds of creatures were standing like they were going to jump over to them at any moment. Kotaro looked around in all directions and somewhat to the left of them, the scarecrow had appeared, still on the pole, and unmoving, but it wasn't where it was. Did someone pick it up and move it?

"What the hell are all these Akuma doing here?" Yin asked herself. A light behind them flashed, and the ground started to shake. Then, it went still.

"Oh shit!" Yang barked, her ears dropping and lifting over and over. "Scarecrow's waking up Ritsuzen!" The Guardians all huffed a "Crap." Or "Oh shit." before growling at the Akuma, who hissed back. Yin and Yang thought for a moment.

"Now what?" Kotaro asked. Yin and Yang nodded in agreement, then turned to the Kokoro.

"We're taking you home." The Kokoro stared at Yin and Yang with wide eyes.

"What?!" Sei said loudly. Yang smiled. But it wasn't a happy one.

"We're taking you home before one of you get hurt." She replied. Kotaro jumped up in front of them.

"You're crazy!" He yelled at them. "Before one of us get's hurt? Are you nuts? One of us has already gotten killed!" He was crying now. "Zelman was our friend! And that damn Scarecrow killed him to torture us. So if you think we're gonna just go home and let you all take care of it yourselves, your dead ass, wrong!" He finished with a hiccup. Yin and Yang stared at the ten year old blonde in surprise. Holy crap he could be motivating when he wanted.

"You know, your right, Kitty." Yang chirped. "Scarecrow killed our friends to gain our fear as his power. But I think that backfired." She smiled triumphantly. She whistled, and Crimson swooped down, and came back up with Yang on his back. Yin jumped into Warlocks hand as he held it out to her. Yang then yelled out loud enough for every Guardian there to hear her clearly. "It didn't make us fear him; it made us hate him more than we already did." She said. "Scarecrow will fear us because of his mistake. He gains power with fear, but what would happen to that power if we show him bravery instead?" She smiled at the Guardians and the Kokoro who were agreeing with every word she said. "Now he's desperate. This is his desperate attempt to win over us, and I don't think you can win out of fear." She suddenly got serious. "And I know that Ritsuzen is a terrifying matter, and I know that there are many more Akuma than us Guardians and Kokoro here combined, and I know we're upset with the loss of Yo, Zelman, and even Evergreen. But what I do know, that every single one of them would be pissed at us for letting Scarecrow win." She said staring at Kotaro. "Kitty's right. We aren't going to give up! We're going to make Scarecrow and all his little pets, including the Scarce Gang, and that damn scorpion, pay for all the pain they've caused us." When she finished, every single Guardian and Kokoro started cheering as their bravery grew, and their fear faded.

Suddenly, another earthquake shook the ground, and half the Akuma dissipated.

"What the-" Kotaro stopped talking and gawked to the other side of the chasm. There, posted by the cliff edge, on the other side, was the scarecrow. It was staring at them, glaring and its frown was menacing. How the hell did it get over there? Who the heck was moving it? Yang still stood on Crimson's back, while Yin jumped onto Warlock's shoulder. Sei, jumped onto Dragon's back, Cain stood next to Hibi, who hissed menacingly. Yafury and March held onto Fury's fur, and Jiro stood ready with Full Moon. Gimi-ni stood on either side of Kotaro, with their giant axe's held firm. The other guardians growled behind them. One hundred Guardians and seven others against five hundred Akuma, and two super strong assholes.

The dissolving Akuma morphed together and grew larger than any building in the Special Zone. It was a bird. With arms, and two legs. Its eyes were balls of ice, and its talons were blood red. Its fangs were golden and its ears were pointed and long. Black wings with golden tips shot out of its back and its tail was long and whip like, with sharp knife like spikes on the tip. This was Ritsuzen, the demon half breed that put everyone to fear for his Kokoro, Scarecrow. Yu shot down from the sky, and filled the chasm with color you could walk on. It was dark, until Ritsuzen roared, striking lightning into the shy, causing the sky to turn blood red, with yellow streaks shooting across it.

"The Ritsuzen world." Yin muttered.

"What?" Cain asked.

"The Ritsuzen world is where Guardians and Akuma go when they die." She answered. "That's it up there." Yang giggled evilly.

"Ok let's kick some bad ass!" She yelled. And as they crossed over Yu, the war for freedom of fear and bravery began.


	11. Chapter 11 Never Ending Love Story

**Chapter 11**

Yang jumped off Crimson and landed on an Akuma, knocking it into another, then another, like dominoes. Yin slammed her fist into an Akuma, flying it into another eight, like bowling. Crimson engulfed his whole body in flames, and was shooting through groups of Akuma. Warlock was just pummeling the shit out of anyone in his way, unlike Hibi, who was waiting, then struck out at Akuma, poisoning them, then moving on as her venom made them light up, and explode.

"Messy, but effective." Yang told Hibi as she slammed her head into an Akuma, crushing its skull inward. Hibi stared at her.

"True." She said striking above Yang and hit an Akuma that was trying to attack her from the air. "Watch yourself, foxy." She said before moving on.

"Yang over here!" Crimson yelled. He had engaged on Ritsuzen, who had grabbed him, and was trying to crush him. "Watch this." He said. Suddenly, Crimson was engulfed in a fiery tornado and it slammed into Ritsuzen, causing him to fly backwards, and skid. Crimson landed, and had stars flying around his head. Yang jumped over Akuma and landed on his back.

"Cool! You ok?" She asked. He chuckled.

"Yeah, but I am…dizzy." He replied, shaking his head rapidly. Yang flipped over Crimson, and brought her foot down on an Akuma's head, then twirled facing Crimson.

"Crimson, sit." She yelled. Crimson sat on an Akuma, crushing it with his weight.

"Oh come on! Am I really _that_ heavy?" He asked the dead Akuma.

"Roll over!" Yang ordered. Crimson slammed backwards, and rolled, crushing four more. Standing up, he noticed some red stuff all over Yang.

"Opps…" He muttered.

"You got _BRAINS_ on me!" She screamed in disgust. Warlock and Dragon overheard and started laughing hysterically while they were dodging the really pissed Ritsuzen.

"Yang! Come on!" Yin yelled. She was on Yu's back. Yu was whipping people left and right with her tail in her dragon/lizard form. Yang nodded, and hopped on Crimson, who shot into the air, and began flying around Ritsuzen, while Yu was whipping its feet, making it move back. Ritsuzen swiped at Crimson, who couldn't flame up because of Yang. A bright light shot through Ritsuzen's hand, causing him to scream and recoil.

"Nice shot Sei." Yang called from her perch. Sei gave her a thumbs up, then returned to the Akuma problem. Gimi and Mini were fighting a really big Akuma when Gimi tripped over the edge of the chasm. Mini screamed and jumped for him. When he got him, he noticed in his other hand, was the big Akuma. Gimi-ni grabbed it tightly, and fell to there deaths. Kotaro was running between Akuma's legs, making them crash into each other, when he tripped. His head slammed into a pole. He sat up and rubbed his head, then looked up and shivered. It was the scarecrow. It had moved again. It was by the edge of the chasm, and now it was far in the battlefield. Why was someone moving it? Who was moving it? To Kotaro it looked kinda like the scarecrow he dad seen in front of their neighbors house, but this one was more life like and creepy.

"Yang, Crimson, look out!" Warlock yelled as Ritsuzen whipped them out of the air with its tail. Crimson skid across the rocky, barren ground on his four feet, unlike Yang, who hit the ground, and rolled. This time, she had stars in her black eyes. Yin and Yu made there way to there sister.

"Yang! Say something to me!" Yin yelled at her.

"Why are there four of both of you?" Yang asked dizzily. Yu giggled in a dark tone, while Yin smiled. The silver twin stood and turned to Ritsuzen. "Come on you oversized gecko! You call that a throw? That was only a football field! Your a terrible pitcher! Come and get me you undersized dinosaur! Nah-na-na-na-na-na!" Ritsuzen roared, and started advancing on Yang. Yang was ready to dodge anything, except what it decided to do. Its eyes flashed Yellow, then gray, and a ball of wind and electricity grew around it. Yin's eyes went wide.

"Storm." She muttered. Crimson was fire, Yang was Ice, Yin was truth, Yu is lie because of her shifting ability. Scarecrow was dark, and Yo was light. But Yin could never figure out who scarecrow was. She at first thought it was Scarecrow himself, until it was told by Dragon that he was darkness. Yang gulped.

"Opps…" She turned to the crowed. "Everyone, get down as low as you can!" Everyone caught on and hit the floor. Sei was trying, but his shirt was caught on a dying Akuma's claw. He couldn't drop low enough, and they only had seconds left. Yang started to get up, but Dragon slammed her back down and sprinted to the kid, right as Ritsuzen flared it out in a giant super nova, like a sun exploding, only it's made of wind and lightning. Dragon slammed into Sei and the dying Akuma at full force, knocking them over. One guardian was blasted into oblivion by a lightning strike. It was that fish that followed Full Moon around. March was watching the sky when he saw a lightning bolt head strait for Yafury. Faster than the lightning itself, March rolled over to him, and shoved him out of the way right as it came down. It hit March, and he was gone. Nothing was left of Yafury's friend. Kotaro was holding onto the post of the scarecrow for dear life, when the big aftershock hit. An enormous blast of wind blew across everyone laying on the floor. Kotaro was blown from the post and fell off the edge of the chasm. He closed his eyes, but he never hit the ground. He looked up to see silver hair wrapped around his arms, and on the other end, Yang was hanging from the edge of the cliff with Crimson holding her feet.

"Nice catch!" He hollered. Yang's hair moved and lifted him to the edge. "How'd you do that Yang?" He asked watching her pigtails moving.

"That's not all I can do. Check it out." She looked at Ritsuzen. Crimson snickered.

"You should have seen what she did to him." He watched. The attack was over, and Ritsuzen suddenly let out a terrible screech of agony as its left arm fell from its limb.

"H-how?" Kotaro asked, confused. Then, he saw Yang. Her left pigtail was covered in blood. "Did you slice his arm off?"

"Yep. My hair can be smooth or sharp. Like ice." Yin smiled at her twin from where she was. Then like a train, reality hit her. Dragon! She and her sibling ran over to the reptile, who was holding Sei protectively, but he was unmoving, and his eyes were halfway open. Sei was yelling at him to say something, but nothing came out of the other dragon. In a flash of light, the reptile Guardian, Dragon, vanished. Sei's kid self came out then, and he started crying. He didn't get mad, and he didn't try to be tough. He just sat there, and cried like the little kid he really was. Cain walked over and picked him up and held him. At that moment, Yang saw Cain as a father and Sei his son. Ritsuzen roared at them, and Crimson screeched back. Yang's ears perked when she heard something. Wings. To small to be Crimsons…Scarecrow! She turned her head rapidly and finally spotted him off in the distance. She bolted towards him on all fours, so she went twice as fast.

"Scarecrow!" She pounced him, and her pigtails became blades as they shot towards him. He laughed, then vanished, and reappeared behind Yang, and slammed a clawed foot into her back. She grunted, and her hair wrapped around his arm, locking them together. "If I'm going down, your going with me!" She screamed as they crashed into the ground. Scarecrow quickly flipped to his feet, with Yang copying along in unison.

"Come on Yang. Your really going to kill me?" He stared into her eyes as they flashed ice, then Yang's screams filled the air.

"Yang!" Yin yelled, as Ritsuzen grabbed her with his good hand, and threw her into warlock. She looked at Ritsuzen. He wasn't going to stop. There was no way they could stop him, most of them were gone or hurt, and now the Kokoro were all in danger. She had to do something.

Kotaro backed up a step and hit something kind of hard yet soft. He turned to see the scarecrow had moved again. "What is the matter with this thing?!" Kotaro yelled at it, but what he didn't expect, was an answer.

"What are you talking about? I'm stapled to a stick! What do you think my problem is?" It said kinda agitated. Kotaro's jaw hit the floor.

"EHH?!" He hollered. Yin wasn't paying attention. Then she had an idea. A really stupid idea. It'll work. She ran over and grabbed a dying Akuma, then ran to Ritsuzen.

"Yin! Don't do it!" Warlock roared. Yin smiled.

"Run you dorks." She replied as Ritsuzen picked her up and threw her into his mouth and swallowed. Suddenly, he flashed, then screeched, and his body cracked, and then he exploded everywhere.

"Yuck!" Yafury yelled with Fury shaking his body right behind him. They were completely covered in blood. Then, a bright, shiny black light flashed, and Yin was gone, forever. Yu stood on her back legs, and mourned, by roaring sadly to the air.

"Well that sucks…" The scarecrow said in the awkward silence as he began pulling himself off the stick. A crow landed on his shoulder and cawed.

"You just don't quit!" Scarecrow said, giving Yang another slash across the face. Yang screamed again as he bent down and took a talon across her throat. Yang gasped, and suddenly there was a spark in front of Scarecrow, then a mini sun was shot at the black haired boy, causing him to lose his concentration and jump away. Yang peered in front of her, and smiled in pure happiness.

"You sick bastard." Zelman growled, blocking the way between the older black blood and Yang. "You grow from fear of others? That just makes you one sick parasite." He shook his head as he spoke. He turned to Yang, who looked him over. He was bare chested, and his chest had a huge claw mark from his heart, down across his chest to his pants. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it looked as if he had to burn it closed so he wouldn't bleed to death. His pants had holes in them here and there, and there were scratches all over his arms. His hands and wrists were covered in red bandages that were white when they were first put on.

"Zelman…" Yang smiled at the red head, who smirked back. Scarecrow shrieked at him, and when he turned, he and Zelman locked eyes, and Scarecrow's flashed. Zelman cried out and fell next to Yang. Scarecrow walked up to him and bent down to the red eyed black blood.

"I thought I had killed you…how strange…" Zelman shot his hand out and grabbed Scarecrow by the collar.

"You don't effect me." He said, pointing to his flaming blood red eyes, then threw the elder back a good forty feet. He then charged him with a flaming arm, but before he could hit him, a silver haired girl jumped in the way, making him stop in his tracks. "Yang?"

"Ah…she never told you, did she?" Scarecrow asked from behind his shield. "Yang here is my Kokoro." He said coolly.

"What? But Ritsuzen-"

"Ritsuzen was just my pet." Scarecrow said. "Now, do you know what would happen to Yang here if you kill me, crimson eyed?" He asked. Zelman snarled. Scarecrow slashed Yang across the back and she hit the ground. Zelman threw himself under her so she wouldn't hit her back on the hard ground. He held her close as he shot fireballs at the devil black blood, who had sprouted his wings, and was flying around, dodging the flames.

"Zelman, do it." The girl in his arms sighed. Zelman didn't look at her. "Kill him."

"No." He sighed back. Out of his eight hundred years of existence, he's never loved anyone in particular. Now he had one possession that he loved, and he was not going to destroy it. Least of all by his own hands. "I survived to see you. So your going to live through this."

"Zelman…thanks for coming back for me." She said, and as he looked down at her, it was too late. Her pigtail turned to a silver blade, and she struck out at Scarecrow. He landed on the ground, unscathed. But she smiled, and when Scarecrow took one step, he shattered into nothing. Zelman stared at the girl in his arms. She was smiling up at him, then with what strength she had left, she kicked him in the crotch. He doubled over her, as she laughed.

"That was for scaring the shit out of me." She mumbled. Then she grabbed his cheek, and kissed his lips. "And that, was for coming back."

Zelman hugged her closer, knowing he couldn't do anything, and watched her shiny black eyes dim as she died there. She glowed silver, then vanished into nothing. For a moment, he sat there, not really knowing what to do. Suddenly, a loud mournful screech filled the air. Zelman turned his head a little to see Crimson screeching in agony. He knew of Yang's death. Standing, Zelman walked to the group, and was talked by Kotaro out of happiness, then they all had one question. How the hell were they getting home. Yu had left to mourn her siblings, so they were kinda stuck. Crimson looked at the red and gold sky in horror. Falling from the sky, were countless Akuma. He got a serious face, and shot into the air. He glowed as a sun surrounded him.

"Crimson!" Fury yelled. The Gryphon smiled at them.

"Go! You'll be fine." And with that, a huge burst into the sky, killing Akuma and returned the sky to its normal black.

… 

Zelman shot up from his bed, and screamed once. Sweating and breathing hard, he looked around the room. It was his room.

"A dream?" He muttered. He tried to stand, but a pain in his chest stopped him. He looked down and saw the claw mark down his chest, almost reopen. "Not a dream!" He said happily, then his tone dropped. If that all wasn't a dream, then Yin and Yang's death wasn't a dream. He sat in his bed for almost an hour thinking when Sayuka came in. She didn't seem to notice him at first, and went strait past him to clean some dust on his dresser and desk. "Sayuka." He muttered. She froze mid clean. Slowly, she turned to him, and eyed him suspiciously.

"Lord Zelman?" She asked. He nodded and smiled his usual badass smile as she walked over to him, and poked him. Her eyes grew wide. "Your back!" She squeaked. He rose an eyebrow.

"Back?" He asked, but she wasn't listening. She ran out of his room yelling "He's back!", so everyone would know. Shaking his head, he somehow stood and made his way to the front door, when he nearly screamed in surprise. The whole coven was outside to see him.

"Boss!" A little one Zelman knows he's seen somewhere before ran up to him and threw his arms around him, making Zelman freeze. (As if he wasn't frozen with surprise already.) The boy pulled back and smiled brightly at his boss. "You've been gone forever! Where'd you go?" He asked. Zelman was staring at him when it hit him. The boy looked exactly like Scarecrow.

"What's your name kid?" He asked. The boy frowned.

"Really boss?" He said in a disappointed tone. "I asked you not to call me a kid. And I've told you my name a hundred times. It's Crow." That was proof enough for Zelman. He looked up at his men, and smirked evilly, making his men cheer for him. Crow stood next to Zelman and jumped up and down in happiness. He didn't act like Scarecrow…huh… "Hey boss?" Crow said cutting through his thoughts. Everyone was looking at him.

"Yo." He replied casually. Crow smiled.

"We were just wondering where you went off to for so long?" He said hopping franticly. Zelman wondered something.

"Are you-" He was cut off.

"Yes boss, I'm your second in command." Crow giggled. "So come on, where'd you go for a year?" He asked again. Zelman snickered.

"Man, are you all in for a story." He said. "But not now." He smiled at Crow. "I have something I need to take care of. Watch them, Crow." He ordered. Crow smiled brighter than Kotaro could.

"Yes sir!"

Kotaro…

Kotaro sucked down another three of Mimiko's bacon, but was still hungry and confused.

"Mimi, you mean you don't remember being in the Sasori dessert?" Mimiko shook her head as Jiro felt her forehead.

"Stop it Jiro!" She griped. "I'm fine, it's you two I'm worried about." She mumbled. Kotaro got up and went to the window, gasped and sprinted to the door. When he was outside, he ran across the street to two boys putting out a scarecrow.

"Gimi-ni!" He yelled. The boys didn't turn to him, so he ran all the way to them and gave them a hug. They flipped around in surprise.

"Yo Kat. Your back!" Gimi smiled. Mini laughed.

"How ya doing Blondie?" He asked. Kotaro giggled at the twins. The scarecrow blew in the wind. Kotaro glanced up at it, and it blinked at him.

"Hey Kotaro how you doing?" It asked. Kotaro smiled warmly as his brother came up behind him.

Sei and Cain…

They weren't acting right…Jinnai thought as he was listening to them ramble on about Guardians and Akuma and some sort of twins.

"Lord Dragon," He tried again, but was shushed by Cain. "It's just we would like to know where you've been for a whole year…" He mumbled.

"That's what we've been telling all of you." Sei said to him, blinking. That was another thing Jinnai didn't understand. How could Sei open his eyes, and the barrier still be up? Cain huffed. There was a sudden slam from the hallway, then the door blast down. Yafury came bolting in with a tan hare on his head and a ferret around his neck.

"Guys! Your not going to believe thi-" in under a second Zhang was up and had Yafury pinned.

"Kowloon child…" He muttered.

"Stop!" Sei barked, causing everyone to flinch. Zhang took a moment, then stood, letting Yafury up. The ferret on his shoulder hissed at the hunter, and the hare hugged the Kowloon's head.

"Yo dragon dude, thanks." He said hopping over to him.

"What's with the bunny and weasel?" Cain asked.

"Hare and Ferret." Yafury corrected. "They were in my room this morning. It's them. March and Fury!" He said as they nodded at them.

"That's new." Sei mumbled. Jinnai couldn't believe his eyes. A Kowloon child was making normal conversation with Sei _and_ Cain. Just then, Zelman came busting down the door they had just fixed from Yafury's entry.

"Guys I have Scarecrow in my coven!" He ran up to Sei, Cain, and Yafury franticly taking a million miles a minute. He suddenly stopped at looked at Jinnai. "What are you staring at?" He asked. Jinnai didn't have a chance to answer before Kotaro blasted through the door and jumped onto Zelman's shoulders.

"Guys you are not going to believe this!" He said before Crow jumped on Zelman's shoulders along with Gimi and Mini.

"Ack! Guys get off!" Zelman tried stepping back, but he tripped and fell landing on Cain, making him fall to the ground too.

"Ugh…Zelman!" Cain roared at the red head. "Get off!" Zelman glared at the ceiling.

"Kind can't at the moment." He replied. Kotaro and the other kids, including Yafury and his animals because Zelman tripped him while he fell, were lying on top of him. "Hey Jinnai," Zelman muttered.

"What is it?" He asked.

"A couple of things. One, get these kids off me." After they had removed the last child, Zelman shot up and grabbed Jinnai's collar. "And two, if you ever tell anyone about that, I will personally see to your death. Understood?" Jinnai nodded, and Zelman dropped him.

Two weeks later…

It's been two weeks since they've been back, and everything seemed to be returning to normal. Zelman hasn't come out of his room in almost a week and a half, and now Sei was hosting some sort of party for everyone in the Coven, Warlock mansion, and his own palace. Crow told the red head through the door.

"Also, someone told me to give you this." He said slipping a letter under the door. When no response came, he left. Zelman sat on his couch with a coke in one hand, and the open letter in the other, he began reading. With every word, his eyes got wider. At the end, his coke had fallen on the floor and his mouth was hanging open. He had to be there tonight. his mouth was hanging open. He had to be there tonight.

That night…

There was dancing and nice music in the giant bright room.

"Who would think that Sei's mansion would have a ballroom." Yafury said to Kotaro who was sitting on a table with the twins. All four of them were in black suits, but Yafury's tie was almost completely undone. Sei sighed from his seat on his table. Cain was talking to him with a drink in his hand, while they both watched people float into the room.

"Boo." Zelman said, making both of them jump. They both gawked at him for a minute. He was wearing a jet black suit that wasn't big, and it fit his body perfectly. He wasn't wearing his hat, so some of his hair dangled in front of his face.

"Did you have to do that?" Cain asked.

"Thanks for coming." Sei said. Zelman chuckled at Cain.

"No problem Sei." He said. Cain looked over Zelman.

"Looks like your fan girls want to see you." He mumbled. Zelman glanced at them, gave Cain a "thanks a lot you jerk" look, then went over to the girls that had hearts in their eyes for him.

"If he didn't want the attention, why come? And why come dressed up like that?" Sei asked himself. Cain shrugged. The party went on, and Zelman was listening to a group of girls chatter as he looked over at some couples dancing. Just then, the door opened again, and Zelman, along with many others, stared at the newcomers. The middle girl came up to Zelman, and twirled.

"What do you think Hothead?" Yang asked him with a giggle. Zelman just stared. Yin Walked up to Jiro, who looked like he wanted to faint. Then he hugged her happily. Yo was bombarded by teenage females.

"Help!" He yelped out as they gushed at him at how handsome and cool he looked. A red head laughed as he came in. Gimi-ni gasped and ran up to him.

"Boss!" They yelled out hugging Clocks legs. He laughed again and ruffled there hair. Yu shot into the ceiling and it began changing colors. Sei squeaked with joy when a small dragon jumped in his lap, and Cain laughed when a blue wolf the size of him tugged on his shirt.

"Zelman?" Yang asked the red head that was staring at her, unmoving. A giant black paw slapped Zelman on the shoulder.

"Oh come on Hothead, you know you can't kill us that easy." Crimson chuckled. All the Guardians had returned to there normal forms and Warlock had to sit, or he'd break the ceiling. Jinnai was staring wide eyed at the creatures. They were real. Sei wasn't making it up. A small imp and scarecrow came up behind him.

"I swear Full Moon, I am never leaving this world." The scarecrow mumbled.

"I know how you feel Sage." Full Moon muttered. Kotaro's Guardian laughed at the imp. Kotaro was talked by a giant cat to the floor and was being drowned by her licks.

"Down Evergreen! Ahh! Hahaha!" He laughed at his friend. Zelman was still staring at Yang (Who was getting annoyed), so she reared up her foot and slammed him right in the crotch. Crow was laughing hysterically.

"Nice shot." He said. Yang giggled.

"Thanks Scarecrow." His icy eyes flashed gold, but nothing happened.

"Jerk." He called her before walking away. Zelman stood up, and slapped her.

"That, was for scaring the shit out of me." He growled. Yang held her hurt cheek and pouted.

"What the hell is your probl-" She was cut off by his lips plastered to hers. Sei poked Cain so he would look, and Crimson laughed alongside Crimson. Gimi-ni made icky noises, and Kotaro, Full Moon, Sage, and some other Guardians were cheering, Yafury fainted, and Jiro chuckled with Yin. When Zelman pulled away, Yang's mouth was hanging open.

"That, was for coming back." He mimicked. Yang giggled, and threw her arms around him.

"I understand it now." Yang said into his suit, her silky silver and black dress ruffled to her movements and Zelman's arms winding around her.

"What?" He asked. Yin smiled. Yang kissed him again.

"I understand love now. Because I love you."


End file.
